February 2017 - ooni-talk - lists.torproject.org

Specifying the term "vendor" on OONI Explorer
by Anatol 07 Jun '17

07 Jun '17

Dear Oonitarians, I would like to discuss wether the vagueness of the term 'vendor' on http://explorer.ooni.torproject.org/ is potentially taking some impact from understanding OONIs test results for new users. I personally recall thinking it meant something like "vendors of internet infrastructure" the first time I visited the explorer, and the only place to figure it out is in one of the boxes in /highlights/. I'm not entirely sure what an appropriate specification should look like, I guess it's a balance between correct definition and convenience in length - with a focus on the first my proposal would be "vendors of [potentially] traffic manipulating software" - but that's so long it will probably break the design of the front page. Maybe if someone knows a shorter, appropriate synonym for "[potentially] traffic manipulating software" ? Best wishes, Anatol

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OONI community meeting tomorrow
by Maria Xynou 27 Feb '17

27 Feb '17

Hello! The OONI team warmly welcomes all those interested in censorship research to join us for a *community meeting tomorrow on Tuesday, 28th February 2017 at 16:00 UTC*. We'd love to hear your thoughts and suggestions on how to improve research on internet censorship! Please join us on *https://slack.openobservatory.org* and add topics that you would like to discuss as part of the meeting in this pad: https://pad.riseup.net/p/ooni-community-meeting If you're not able to join us tomorrow, please feel encouraged to join us on slack any other day! We are around everyday and happy to engage in discussions with you. :) Looking forward to connecting with you soon! All the best, ~ The OONI team. -- Maria Xynou Research and Partnerships Coordinator Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI) https://ooni.torproject.org/ PGP Key Fingerprint: 2DC8 AFB6 CA11 B552 1081 FBDE 2131 B3BE 70CA 417E

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Congrats on the iPhone and Android app!
by Andri Effendi 10 Feb '17

10 Feb '17

Hello OONI Community, Thanks for your hard work on building the iPhone and Android OONI App. It's great to know that a lot more people who are less technical will be able to gather more measurements. I do have a few questions. Why are some websites appearing in the results as being censored, yet when I try to go to the URL it works? I know there are risks of running OONI, but what level is the risk? Is it just going on sites like thepiratebay.org? Or OONI going to be probing (Internationally) illegal sites like Drugs and Abuse material going to be probed in tests as well? Can you please clarify? Kind Regards, -- Andri Effendi <fusionman133(a)gmx.de> Organiser of The Free Software Movement in Sydney www.freesoftware.org.au/ GPG fingerprint: 8438 138D ECDA 05E0 591F F2B4 4721 0F03 AC24 DF73 Confidentiality cannot be guaranteed on emails sent or received unencrypted.

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BOOM! New OONI Mobile App Released!
by Maria Xynou 09 Feb '17

09 Feb '17

Hellos! Today the Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI) is thrilled to announce the release of *ooniprobe mobile app* on *Google Play* and *iOS* app stores! *Google Play:* https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.openobservatory.ooniprobe *iOS:* https://itunes.apple.com/US/app/id1199566366 OONI's new mobile app is easy to use and allows you to monitor: *- **Blocking of websites;** **- Presence of systems ("middle boxes") that could be responsible for censorship and/or surveillance;** **- Speed and performance of your network.* Since OONI started monitoring global censorship events five years ago, we have seen that many cases of internet censorship around the world are politically motivated, aimed at stifling communications and access to information during protests, elections, and other political events. While we may all be familiar with such events, what we often lacked was *evidence *required to hold those responsible to account. What we also lacked was real-time understanding of how internet censorship was implemented, and therefore how it could be circumvented. Now anyone who owns an Android or iOS smartphone can play an active role in uncovering information controls around the world. OONI's new mobile app not only allows you to see which websites are blocked, how, where, when, and by whom, but it also provides tips on how to circumvent the detected censorship. It also allows you to measure the speed and performance of your network, which can be useful in uncovering more covert forms of censorship, such as throttling (a censorship technique we have increasingly seen in Turkey and elsewhere around the world). All network measurement data collected through OONI's mobile app is *published on OONI Explorer *(https://explorer.ooni.torproject.org/world/) and on *OONI's measurement interface* (https://measurements.ooni.torproject.org/) -- unless you opt out. Open data allows third parties to conduct independent studies, to verify OONI findings, and to answer other research questions. It also allows us all to have a more accurate understanding of information controls around the world. With each test you run via OONI's mobile app, you are playing an active role in increasing transparency of internet censorship. ooniprobe is an investigatory tool and may therefore pose some risks (https://ooni.torproject.org/about/risks/) When you first install the app, we require you to answer a quiz correctly, demonstrating your understanding of potential risks. We believe that access to information is a fundamental human right and therefore everyone should have the right and ability to examine their digital world and the restrictions that may be imposed on it. Moses Karanja, a Kenyan researcher on the politics of information controls at Strathmore University's CIPIT said in a statement: /"What Signal did for end-to-end encryption, OONI did for unmasking censorship. Most Africans rely on mobile phones as their primary means of accessing the internet and OONI's mobile app allows for decentralized efforts in unmasking the nature of censorship and internet performance. The possibilities are exciting for researchers, business and the human rights community around the world. We look forward to interesting days ahead."/ Learn more about OONI's mobile app here: https://ooni.torproject.org/post/ooni-mobile-app/ Please contact the OONI team with any questions you may have at *contact(a)openobservatory.org*. All the best, The OONI Team. -- Maria Xynou Research and Partnerships Coordinator Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI) https://ooni.torproject.org/ PGP Key Fingerprint: 2DC8 AFB6 CA11 B552 1081 FBDE 2131 B3BE 70CA 417E

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