Your network,
explained.
Everything you need to know about your Harbor Privacy installation — how it works, how to manage it, and what to do if something doesn't load.
How Your Network Works
Your Harbor Privacy device is a small Raspberry Pi computer that sits quietly on your network and handles all DNS queries for every device in your home. DNS is essentially the phone book of the internet — every time you visit a website, your device first asks a DNS server for directions.
Normally, those requests go to your ISP (Comcast, Verizon, etc.) which can log and sell your browsing data. Your Harbor Privacy device intercepts those requests, blocks the bad ones, and sends the rest through an encrypted, private channel so your ISP never sees them.
Your device asks your Harbor Privacy Pi for directions → Pi checks if the domain is on a blocklist → If clean, it looks up the address privately → Your device connects to the website. The whole process takes under 20 milliseconds.
What It Protects
- Every device automatically — phones, laptops, smart TVs, game consoles, tablets. Anything connected to your WiFi or ethernet is protected without installing any software.
- Ads and trackers — blocked before they even load, which means faster page loads and less data usage.
- Malware and phishing domains — known malicious sites are blocked at the DNS level.
- ISP snooping — all your DNS queries are encrypted so Comcast can't see what sites you're visiting.
Your Dashboard
Your Harbor Privacy device has a web dashboard where you can see what's being blocked, manage settings, and whitelist sites that aren't loading correctly.
Open a browser on any device connected to your home network and go to the address provided in your setup documentation. You'll need the username and password from your setup sheet.
Dashboard Overview
Device Setup
Most devices are automatically protected once connected to your home network. For phones and tablets that leave your home network, a DNS profile was installed during setup to keep you protected anywhere.
What Gets Blocked
Your device uses carefully selected blocklists that catch ads and threats without breaking legitimate services. Here's what each category covers:
Advertising networks, social media trackers, analytics services, and data brokers. These are blocked on every device without affecting the websites themselves.
Known malicious domains, phishing sites, and command-and-control servers used by malware. Updated regularly from threat intelligence feeds.
Smart device "phone home" traffic — TVs, appliances, and IoT devices that send usage data back to manufacturers without your knowledge.
Legitimate websites, streaming services, online gaming, video calls, and anything you actually want to use. The blocklists are tuned to avoid false positives. If something you use stops working, see the section below on whitelisting.
Unblocking a Site
Occasionally a legitimate site or service may be blocked. This is uncommon but can happen. Here's how to fix it:
Option 1 — Contact Me (Easiest)
Email or text me the domain that's not loading. I can unblock it remotely within a few hours. This is the recommended option for most people.
Option 2 — Use Your Dashboard
Query Logs
The query log shows every DNS request made by every device on your network in real time. Green entries are allowed, red entries are blocked.
What You'll See
- A lot of requests — a typical household generates thousands of queries per day. Most are background app activity, not active browsing.
- Unfamiliar domain names — many are legitimate services running in the background. Apple, Google, and app developers all make regular background requests.
- Blocked entries — shown in red. These are ads, trackers, or malicious domains that were stopped before loading.
Query logs are stored locally on your device only. They are never sent anywhere or shared with anyone. You can clear them at any time from the dashboard settings.
Troubleshooting
A website or app stopped working
Internet seems slow
Your Harbor Privacy device adds less than 5 milliseconds to DNS resolution — this is imperceptible in normal use. If your internet feels slow, the cause is almost certainly your ISP or WiFi, not the DNS device. Run a speed test at fast.com to check your connection.
The Pi device lost power
If the Raspberry Pi is unplugged or loses power, your internet will still work — your router will fall back to a backup DNS server automatically. Simply plug the Pi back in and wait about 60 seconds for it to restart. Everything will return to normal on its own.
Something changed on my router
If you get a new router, change your router settings, or your ISP makes changes, your Harbor Privacy setup may need to be reconfigured. Contact me before making major changes to your network and I can advise.
Frequently Asked Questions
Still need help?
Reach out and I'll get back to you within 24 hours.
info@harborprivacy.com📍 Pembroke, MA · Serving the South Shore