March 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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Report: The State of Internet Censorship in Myanmar
by Maria Xynou 29 Mar '17

29 Mar '17

Hi, Today the Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI), in collaboration with Sinar Project and Myanmar ICT for Development Organization (MIDO), published a report on *The State of Internet Censorship in Myanmar*. You can read our report here: https://ooni.torproject.org/post/myanmar-report/ As part of our study, OONI software tests were run across 6 local vantage points in Myanmar between 25th October 2016 and 28th February 2017. These tests are designed to measure: - Blocking of websites; - Blocking of Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger; - Blocking of Tor; - Presence of middle boxes (i.e. systems that could be responsible for censorship or surveillance). Upon analysis of thousands of network measurements, we did not detect any block pages that could confirm any cases of internet censorship. Five sites, however, including those of the U.S. embassy in Myanmar and of the Organization of American States (OAS) presented signs of TCP/IP and HTTP blocking. While OONI software tests detected the presence of Blue Coat software (some types of which can potentially be used for internet censorship and surveillance) in Myanmar back in 2012, we did not detect the presence of this software in any of the 6 networks where tests were performed. On another positive note, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and the Tor Network were found to be accessible in all 6 networks in Myanmar throughout the testing period. Please contact us with any questions or feedback you may have. 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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Examining internet shutdowns through public data sources
by Maria Xynou 28 Mar '17

28 Mar '17

Hi, Today we (the OONI team) released a post which explains our methodology when examining internet blackouts through public data sources. You can find the post here: https://ooni.torproject.org/post/examining-internet-blackouts/ This also includes an ipython network which shows how to automatically analyze Google traffic data with the aim of identifying internet blackouts. We hope you find this useful! Please contact us with any questions or suggestions you may have (while bearing in mind that we're attending RightsCon this week and may be slow in replies). 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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Reminder: OONI community meeting tomorrow
by Maria Xynou 20 Mar '17

20 Mar '17

Hello, I am sending this email as a reminder that *tomorrow, 21st March*, we will be having the *OONI community meeting* at *12:00 UTC* on *https://slack.openobservatory.org*. We hope you can join us for a discussion around internet censorship! Please add topics that you would like to discuss as part of the meeting in the following pad: https://pad.riseup.net/p/ooni-community-meeting Looking forward to connecting with you tomorrow! ~ 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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New report: The State of Internet Censorship in Thailand
by Maria Xynou 20 Mar '17

20 Mar '17

Hello, Today, in collaboration with Sinar Project and the Thai Netizen Network, the OONI project published a research report on "*The State of Internet Censorship in Thailand*". You can view our joint report here: https://ooni.torproject.org/post/thailand-internet-censorship/ Over the last 4 months, ooniprobe was run across 16 local vantage points in Thailand, through which we collected and analyzed thousands of network measurements with the aim of examining and uncovering recent censorship events in the country. Our study also includes an examination of Thailand's legal environment and network landscape. The key findings of our study *confirm the blocking of 13 websites* in Thailand across 6 different ISPs, including the following types of sites: - *News outlets* (*nypost.com* and *dailymail.co.uk*) - *wikileaks.org* - *Circumvention tool sites* (such as hotspotshield.com) - Pornography Thai ISPs appear to primarily be implementing censorship through *DNS hijacking* and through the use of *middle boxes* (HTTP transparent proxies) which serve block pages. Since sites were not found to be blocked across all networks, /Thai ISPs appear to be blocking websites at their own discretion. // /On a positive note, the Tor network, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger were found to be accessible across all 16 networks in Thailand where tests were run during the testing period (6th November 2016 - 27th February 2017). Given the limited transparency around information controls in Thailand and their potential for abuse, we encourage public debate based on the findings of this study. Finally, we thank the OTF and Access Now for funding this research. We also thank all the anonymous and brave volunteers in Thailand who have run and continue to run ooniprobe, thus making this research possible. Please contact us with any questions you may have! Feedback is always welcome. ~ 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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OONI community meeting
by Maria Xynou 16 Mar '17

16 Mar '17

Hello! The OONI team warmly welcomes all those interested in censorship research to join us for a *community meeting next Tuesday, 21st March 2017 at 12:00 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, 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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Call for testing for ooniprobe 2.2.0rc2
by Arturo Filastò 13 Mar '17

13 Mar '17

Hello Oonitarians! We have just made a release candiate for the upcoming 2.2.0 ooniprobe release. This features the new web UI as well as other improvements to ooniprobe itself. It would be extremely useful to have people test it for bugs and ensure it's stability before we do the final release. You can find this release candidate here: https://github.com/TheTorProject/ooni-probe/releases/tag/v2.2.0-rc.2. At the bottom of the release log you can find instructions on how to install it inside of a testing environment (virtualenv). If you find any bugs or have suggestions for improvements that we can include in the final release you should open an issue on github at the following URL: https://github.com/TheTorProject/ooni-probe/issues/new. Thanks! ~ Arturo

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