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OONI Community Meeting: 30th May 2023
by Elizaveta Yachmeneva 25 May '23

25 May '23

Hello, The OONI team warmly welcomes you to join us next Tuesday for our monthly community meeting. => Where? OONI Slack channel: https://slack.ooni.org/ <https://slack.ooni.org/> (bridged with IRC: ircs://irc.oftc.net:6697/#ooni <ircs://irc.oftc.net:6697/#ooni>) => When? Tuesday, 30th May 2023 at 14:00 UTC (for 1 hour) Please add topics that you'd like to discuss during the meeting in this pad: https://pad.riseup.net/p/ooni-community-meeting-keep <https://pad.riseup.net/p/ooni-community-meeting-keep> The monthly OONI community meetings aim to: * Collect community feedback on OONI tools & methodologies * Address questions in relation to the use of OONI tools and OONI data * Foster discussions on internet censorship issues * Receive updates from the community We hope you can join us! All the best, ~ OONI team

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OONI sessions at RightsCon, Costa Rica, 5-8th June
by Elizaveta Yachmeneva 24 May '23

24 May '23

Hi everyone! We are happy to share that part of our team, Maria, Arturo and Elizaveta, will be attending RightsCon <https://www.rightscon.org/> in Costa Rica! We compiled a list of sessions related to OONI, where we and our partners will be discussing OONI tools and sharing our latest projects and findings. Some of the sessions are online and hybrid, so please feel encouraged to join us at any of these events even if you do not plan to come to the RightsCon in person. If you plan to host other sessions or events during RightsCon and want to invite OONI Community, please feel free to share the info about the sessions (or events) in #ooni channel on Slack <https://slack.ooni.org/>. Please find here the sessions our team will be attending as speakers, all time is UTC +4 zone: KeepItOn in 2022: successes, opportunities, struggles, and lessons learned in the fight against election-related shutdowns Host: Access Now | Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) Time and location: June 6, 2023, 7 - 8pm +04, Room: Central 2 Tools to tackle internet shutdowns and censorship: What’s going on online? Building an internet shutdown early warning system Host: Measurement Lab | Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI) | Georgia Institute of Technology, Internet Outage Detection and Analysis (IODA) Time and location: June 6, 2023, 8:15 - 9:15pm +04, Room: Colibri Data and action: using data analysis for incident response and threat prevention Host institution: Center for Digital Resilience Time and location: June 7, 2023, 8:15 - 9:15pm +04, Room: Tortuga Learn to investigate internet shutdowns through an Iran 2022 case study Host: Access Now | Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI) | Georgia Institute of Technology, Internet Outage Detection and Analysis (IODA) Time and location: June 7, 2023, 10:45 - 11:45pm +04, Room: Tucan Internet blocking and the consequences for human rights? Host institution: Cloudflare Time and location: June 8, 2023, 10:45 - 11:45pm +04, online These are some other sessions featuring OONI, all time is UTC +4 zone: Election monitoring and internet shutdowns: reaching new communities for network measurement and activism before elections Host institution: National Democratic Institute (NDI) Time and location: June 7, 2023, 8:15 - 9:15pm +04, online Censorship circumvention: how to dodge Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) – Just plug in: an appliance approach to measure internet censorship Host institution: Venezuela Inteligente Time and location: June 8, 2023, 5:45 - 6:45pm +04, online Shutting down the shutdown: mainstreaming proactive civil society responses to internet disruptions Host institution: International Republican Institute (IRI) | Google (Jigsaw) Time and location: June 9, 2023, 12 - 1am +04, Room: Central 3 Warmly, OONI Team

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Job Opening: OONI Project Manager
by Maria Xynou 03 May '23

03 May '23

Hello, I'm excited to share that we're hiring! The OONI team (a non-profit fighting internet censorship) is looking for a dedicated *project manager* to help us manage our software development work. *Information about the job description, qualification requirements, and how to apply* is available here: https://ooni.org/post/2023-job-opening-ooni-project-manager/ Born in 2012, OONI builds free software (OONI Probe) that enables anyone to detect and collect evidence of internet censorship. With more than 100k installs, OONI Probe is run in more than 160 countries every month. To increase transparency of internet censorship, we publish censorship measurements as open data in near real-time. This data supports research and advocacy efforts investigating and fighting internet censorship worldwide. By joining our team, you will help manage our software development work, supporting a global community measuring internet censorship. This is a *full-time 12-month contract position* (which may be extended), starting ASAP. This is a *fully remote position*. We encourage applications from anywhere in the world! Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. Please spread the word ( https://twitter.com/OpenObservatory/status/1653444903462895631) and help us find someone who can best serve the internet freedom community! Thank you, OONI team.

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(no subject)
by 0 0 03 May '23

03 May '23

Web tunneling connect, anysocial media servers

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New OONI report on the blocking of Telegram in Brazil
by Maria Xynou 29 Apr '23

29 Apr '23

Hello, Last night the OONI team published a new report, documenting the *ongoing blocking of Telegram in Brazil*. You can read the report here: https://ooni.org/post/2023-brazil-telegram/ OONI data shows that some ISPs in Brazil immediately complied with the federal judge’s decision to suspend Telegram, as the blocking of Telegram started on 26th April 2023 (same day as the judge's decision). However, the block was not implemented by all ISPs in Brazil, nor was it implemented in the same way. Some ISPs blocked access to all tested Telegram endpoints, while others only blocked some of them. This suggests lack of coordination between providers, and that each ISP implemented the block autonomously. Learn more details through our report. You can continue to monitor the blocking of Telegram in Brazil through OONI data, which is automatically published in real-time: https://explorer.ooni.org/chart/mat?probe_cc=BR&since=2023-03-29&until=2023… We thank OONI Probe users in Brazil who contributed measurements, supporting this study. <3 ~ OONI team.

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New OONI report on throttling of news media in Kazakhstan
by Maria Xynou 28 Apr '23

28 Apr '23

Hello, Today the OONI team published a new research report documenting the t*hrottling of news media websites in Kazakhstan*. You can read the report here: https://ooni.org/post/2023-throttling-kz-elections/ In our latest report, we analyse the ongoing throttling of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) Kazakhstan’s service websites in Kazakh and Russian (www.azattyq.org and rus.azattyq.org) which started on 27th September 2022. We also document the temporary throttling of Current Time TV during Kazakhstan's 2022 presidential election. OONI data shows the ongoing throttling of RFE/RL Kazakhstan’s service websites on most tested Kazakh providers, while Current Time TV was mainly throttled on AS9198 (JSC Kazakhtelecom). This report documents how OONI data can be used to investigate and document cases of throttling. We thank OONI Probe users in Kazakhstan for contributing measurements, making this study possible. <3 ~ OONI team.

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Internet Without Borders conference in Berlin
by Maria Xynou 25 Apr '23

25 Apr '23

Hi friends, eQualit.ie would like to invite you to "Internet Without Borders", a hybrid conference and hackathon that will take place in Berlin on April 28-30th: https://internetborders.net/ It's an in-person event at Forum Factory, Besselstraße 13-14, 10969 Berlin. Internet Without Borders is a transdisciplinary laboratory, uniting a critical mass of developers, journalists, circumvention tech experts, OSINT researchers, activists and designers. The main mission of this event is to fight internet censorship and other forms of digital and infrastructural oppression spread by the Russian government. OONI is presenting an important challenge at the hackathon, with a $600 USD prize to win! The task is to develop a VPN measurement research methodology for Russia and temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. Our fellow Ain Ghazal will be curating this challenge on site, and you will have an opportunity to hack around with some of the OONI solutions and meet other interesting tech organizations, such as Mozilla, Lantern, Censorship.no, Amnezia VPN, LEAP and many other open source projects focused on Internet Freedom. Drinks, lunch and coffee breaks are provided to all conference guests. See more information about the hackathon here: https://internetborders.net/digital-resistance-lab-challenges/ The event is off-the-record, no photo and video is allowed. The event respects Chatham House rules and tries to guarantee security and privacy to participants. All applications are undergoing verification. Participation at Internet Without Borders is free of charge! However, registration is mandatory. To register, please fill in this form: https://internetborders.net/registration-berlin/ Thanks, Maria.

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OONI Community Meeting: Tomorrow, 14:00 (UTC)
by Elizaveta Yachmeneva 24 Apr '23

24 Apr '23

Hello everyone! This is a reminder that the monthly OONI Community Meeting is taking place tomorrow. => Where? https://slack.ooni.org/ <https://slack.ooni.org/> (OONI Slack channel, bridged with IRC: ircs://irc.oftc.net:6697/#ooni <ircs://irc.oftc.net:6697/#ooni>) => When? Tuesday, 25th April 2023 at 14:00 UTC (for 1 hour) Please add topics that you'd like to discuss during the meeting in this pad: https://pad.riseup.net/p/ooni-community-meeting-keep <https://pad.riseup.net/p/ooni-community-meeting-keep> Thanks, Elizaveta.

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OONI Community Meeting: 25th April 2023
by Elizaveta Yachmeneva 20 Apr '23

20 Apr '23

Hi everyone, Next Tuesday we will be hosting our monthly community meeting and we are welcoming everyone to join us there. => Where? OONI Slack channel: https://slack.ooni.org/ <https://slack.ooni.org/> (bridged with IRC: ircs://irc.oftc.net:6697/#ooni) => When? Tuesday, 25th April 2023 at 14:00 UTC (for 1 hour) Please add topics that you'd like to discuss during the meeting in this pad: https://pad.riseup.net/p/ooni-community-meeting-keep <https://pad.riseup.net/p/ooni-community-meeting-keep> The monthly OONI community meetings aim to: * Collect community feedback on OONI tools & methodologies * Address questions in relation to the use of OONI tools and OONI data * Foster discussions on internet censorship issues * Receive updates from the community We hope you can join us! All the best, ~ OONI team

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OONI Monthly Report: March 2023
by Maria Xynou 03 Apr '23

03 Apr '23

Hello, This email shares OONI's monthly report for March 2023. *# OONI Monthly Report: March 2023* Throughout March 2023, the OONI team worked on the following sprints: * Sprint 86 (1st-12th March 2023) * Sprint 87 (13th-31st March 2023) Our work can be tracked through the various OONI GitHub repositories: https://github.com/ooni Highlights are shared in this report below. *## Public launch of OONI Probe Web* In March 2023, the OONI team released OONI Probe Web: a new browser-based tool for measuring the blocking of websites. Run OONI Probe Web: https://probe-web.ooni.org/ We built OONI Probe Web in response to long-term community feedback, requesting a censorship measurement tool that can be run from a browser, without requiring the installation of any software. With OONI Probe Web, you will test the same types of websites as with the OONI Probe apps ( https://ooni.org/support/faq#which-websites-will-i-test-for-censorship-with…) Upon running OONI Probe Web, your test results will be published as open data in near real-time (https://ooni.org/data/) However, please note that OONI Probe Web is very limited in comparison to the OONI Probe apps ( https://ooni.org/install/) Due to limitations in the API available to web browsers, it’s not possible to run advanced experiments necessary for accurately detecting and characterizing website blocks from a browser. We therefore kindly ask you to not treat OONI Probe Web as a replacement for the OONI Probe apps, but as a complementary tool. We encourage you to run OONI Probe Web and contribute measurements, the analysis of which will help us improve upon OONI Probe Web on an ongoing basis. You can learn more about OONI Probe Web in our blog post: https://ooni.org/post/introducing-ooni-probe-web/ In preparation for the launch, we: * Switched the endpoints used by OONI Probe Web to production ( https://github.com/ooni/probe-web/pull/6) * Made several improvements to the copy and to the layout of the pages ( https://github.com/ooni/probe-web/pull/7) with special focus on the informed consent procedure; * Made changes to OONI Probe Web to ensure that it works better on mobile platforms (https://github.com/ooni/probe-web/pull/9) * Added support to the backend for analyzing OONI Probe Web measurements ( https://github.com/ooni/backend/pull/648) * Added support for filtering OONI Probe Web measurements inside of OONI Explorer (https://github.com/ooni/explorer/pull/847) * Updated the OONI Data Policy (https://github.com/ooni/ooni.org/pull/1347) *## Launched new OONI Explorer features and pages* In March 2023, we launched several new OONI Explorer features and pages. These include: * New domain-centric pages: https://explorer.ooni.org/domains * New network-centric pages: https://explorer.ooni.org/networks * New “Internet outage” charts (integrating IODA, Google traffic, and Cloudflare Radar data), available in each country-specific ( https://explorer.ooni.org/countries) and network-specific page ( https://explorer.ooni.org/networks) * New user feedback reporting mechanism, available through the “Verify” button in the banner of each OONI measurement page The user feedback reporting mechanism enables OONI Explorer users to submit feedback for each OONI measurement, helping the OONI team to improve OONI data quality. Using the user feedback reporting mechanism requires logging in with an email address (OONI Explorer user account). Email addresses are not stored. They are just required so that we can send you a login link. Leading up to the launch of the above, we wrapped up the relevant work. Specifically, we: * Added index pages for domains and networks that we have measurements for ( https://github.com/ooni/explorer/pull/830) * Finished applying the designs for the new domain and network pages ( https://github.com/ooni/explorer/pull/830) * Unified the appearance of the pre-existent pages by implementing new designs created by a UI/UX designer (updated the general countries page, each country page and several other components); * Released third-party data integration on network and country pages ( https://github.com/ooni/explorer/pull/831) * Released OONI Explorer user accounts and the user feedback reporting mechanism for measurements (https://github.com/ooni/explorer/pull/790) *## Published new OONI Explorer user guide* In March 2023, we published a new user guide for OONI Explorer: https://ooni.org/support/ooni-explorer OONI Explorer (https://explorer.ooni.org/) is the world's largest open dataset on Internet censorship, with new measurements published in near real-time. This user guide provides step-by-step instructions (with screenshots) on how to use OONI Explorer to investigate internet censorship worldwide. Through this guide, you will learn how to use OONI Explorer to: * Discover blocked websites and apps around the world * Access measurement data that can serve as evidence of internet censorship * Generate charts based on aggregate views of OONI data * Compare censorship across countries and networks * Filter measurements based on various parameters (such as country, ASN, date range, OONI Probe test, websites categories, domains, etc.) Upon reading this guide, we hope you will feel empowered to investigate internet censorship through the use of OONI Explorer. We thank all OONI Probe (https://ooni.org/install/) users worldwide who have contributed – and continue to contribute – measurements, shedding light on internet censorship. *## Published new documentation on interpreting OONI data* In March 2023, we published new documentation which explains how to interpret OONI data. You can access this documentation here: https://ooni.org/support/interpreting-ooni-data/ OONI data is open data on Internet censorship around the world, updated in real-time. With our new guide, you can learn how to interpret OONI data to monitor and respond to Internet censorship worldwide. *## Published new documentation on coordinating censorship measurement campaigns* In March 2023, we published a new guide through which you can learn how to coordinate OONI censorship measurement campaigns with your community. Read the guide here: https://ooni.org/support/ooni-censorship-measurement-campaigns Is your country preparing for elections? Did new blocks emerge during protests? Would you like to measure censorship in different regions in your country, or in different countries around the world? Community coordination can help with rapidly measuring and responding to Internet censorship events. Through our new guide, you can learn which steps you can take to organize censorship testing with other OONI Probe users. We also share a few examples of OONI censorship measurement campaigns led by groups in the internet freedom community. *## Published new OONI Outreach Kit* In March 2023, we published a new OONI Outreach Kit: https://ooni.org/support/ooni-outreach-kit/ Our Outreach Kit includes flyers, brochures, workshop slides & other resources that you can use as part of your OONI community engagement efforts! Specifically, the Outreach Kit includes: * OONI brochures: https://ooni.org/support/ooni-outreach-kit/#ooni-brochures * OONI Probe flyers and leaflets: https://ooni.org/support/ooni-outreach-kit/#ooni-probe-flyers-and-leaflets * OONI Explorer flyers: https://ooni.org/support/ooni-outreach-kit/#ooni-explorer-flyers * Internet censorship flyers: https://ooni.org/support/ooni-outreach-kit/#internet-censorship-flyers * OONI screencasts: https://ooni.org/support/ooni-outreach-kit/#ooni-screencasts * OONI workshop slides: https://ooni.org/support/ooni-outreach-kit/#ooni-workshop-slides * Other OONI resources: https://ooni.org/support/ooni-outreach-kit/#ooni-resources We hope you find these materials useful, and we thank you for your OONI community engagement efforts! We also thank Ura Design (https://ura.design/) for the beautiful design of the OONI Outreach Kit. *## Updated the Get Involved section of the OONI website* In light of the aforementioned publications, we edited the copy of the Get Involved page on the OONI website to provide updated information and links ( https://github.com/ooni/ooni.org/pull/1366/files) The updated version of the OONI Get Involved page can be viewed here: https://ooni.org/get-involved/ *## Published OONI documents translated into 5 languages* In March 2023, we published several OONI documents translated into 5 languages: Arabic, Farsi, Russian, Swahili, and Spanish. The translated OONI documents are: * OONI Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ): https://ooni.org/support/faq * OONI Glossary: https://ooni.org/support/glossary * Potential risks: https://ooni.org/about/risks/ Below we share links for the translated documents in each of the 5 languages. *### Arabic* Thanks to Ahmed Gharbeia, the following OONI documents are now available in Arabic: * OONI Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ): https://ooni.org/ar/support/faq * OONI Glossary: https://ooni.org/ar/support/glossary * Potential risks: https://ooni.org/ar/about/risks *### Farsi* Thanks to Miaan Group, the following OONI documents are now available in Farsi: * OONI Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ): https://ooni.org/fa/support/faq * OONI Glossary: https://ooni.org/fa/support/glossary * Potential risks: https://ooni.org/fa/about/risks *### Russian* Thanks to Tatyana Boldyreva, the following OONI documents are now available in Russian: * OONI Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ): https://ooni.org/ru/support/faq * OONI Glossary: https://ooni.org/ru/support/glossary * Potential risks: https://ooni.org/ru/about/risks *### Swahili* Thanks to Zaina Foundation, the following OONI documents are now available in Swahili: * OONI Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ): https://ooni.org/sw/support/faq * OONI Glossary: https://ooni.org/sw/support/glossary * Potential risks: https://ooni.org/sw/about/risks *### Spanish* Thanks to Katherine Pennacchio and Mariengracia Chirinos, the following OONI documents are now available in Spanish: * OONI Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ): https://ooni.org/es/support/faq * OONI Glossary: https://ooni.org/es/support/glossary The Risks document had already been translated to Spanish by Derechos Digitales: https://ooni.org/es/about/risks Huge thanks to the translators who helped make important OONI documents accessible to more communities worldwide! *## Published blog post on the analysis of failed OONI measurements* In March 2023, Gurshabad Grover (OTF Information Controls Research Fellow at OONI) and Simone Basso (OONI engineer) published a new post titled: "How we're improving OONI data quality: An analysis of failed measurements". Read this post here: https://ooni.org/post/improving-data-quality-analysis-of-failed-measurement… You may have noticed that some OONI measurements are annotated as "failed". This happens when the OONI Probe experiment fails to perform as expected (e.g due to bugs). To better understand why some OONI measurements fail, Gurshabad and Simone analyzed 100 of the most failed Web Connectivity measurements collected (during 3 days in June 2022) from India, Indonesia, and Pakistan (300 measurements in total). They found that Web Connectivity measurements failed to the following reasons: * Instance of internet censorship * Tested website was down * Tested website was misconfigured * Bugs Out of the 3 countries, they found that most failed measurements (more than 75%) from Pakistan and Indonesia were symptomatic of internet censorship. Based on this study, the authors identified some next steps for improving OONI data quality: https://ooni.org/post/improving-data-quality-analysis-of-failed-measurement… We encourage researchers to analyze failed OONI measurements and help us further improve OONI data quality. *## Published URL prioritization web interface* OONI’s smart URL list system ( https://ooni.org/post/ooni-smart-url-list-system/) prioritizes the testing of certain URLs over others. Currently, popular social media websites (which are frequently blocked around the world) are prioritized for testing the most globally. To enable the internet freedom community to review URL priorities and contribute feedback (i.e suggest URLs for testing prioritization), we published a new URL prioritization web interface: https://test-lists.ooni.org/prioritization To this end, we added support for displaying URL priorities in the Test Lists Editor interface (https://github.com/ooni/backend/pull/646) and we added a web form that enables community members to suggest URLs for prioritization (https://github.com/ooni/test-lists-ui/pull/72) *## OONI Probe Mobile* In March 2023, we continued to improve upon the OONI Probe mobile app. Specifically, we: * Continued to make improvements to the next OONI Probe Mobile release (3.8.0) based on feedback from internal testing; * Made the Android Manifest general enough based on community feedback ( https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/1989) * Continued working towards ensuring that the OONI Probe iOS app does not crash when OONI backend services are down ( https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/2201) * Continued working towards rewriting OONI Probe in Flutter ( https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/2359) * Worked towards addressing a bug impacting status information in dark mode (https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/2423) * Fixed bugs (https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/2427, https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/2428) *## OONI Run* We released a new stable version of OONI Run (v1.0.0: https://github.com/ooni/run/releases/tag/v1.0.0) which includes some of the improvements which are backward compatible with older versions of OONI Probe. These include support for using translations with a language selector, copy edits, updating software dependencies and several bug fixes. Following the release of OONI Run v1.0.0, we deployed it and made some improvements to the deployment process. We also merged the specification for the next generation of OONI Run which is going to be implemented over the course of the next year: https://github.com/ooni/spec/pull/249 *## OONI Probe CLI* We continued working on the OONI Probe CLI 3.17 release. While performing quality assurance, we noticed and fixed an issue that prevented mobile apps from taking advantage of the prototype richer input functionality exported by the OONI backend. We fixed this issue ( https://github.com/ooni/probe-cli/pull/1123) and released OONI Probe CLI 3.17.1 (https://github.com/ooni/probe-cli/releases/tag/v3.17.1) Based on a community request, we exported all the internal Go packages used by OONI Probe CLI (https://github.com/ooni/probe-cli) in the OONI Probe Engine (https://github.com/ooni/probe-engine) repository. We will semi-automatically update this repository after each minor release, to allow community members to import our internal implementation details from their applications and libraries written in Go. We merged the dslx package, which provides a composable high-level API for writing OONI experiments (https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/2402) For additional information on this package, please take a look at the design document that explains this functionality in detail: https://github.com/ooni/probe-cli/blob/master/docs/design/dd-005-dslx.md We continued to investigate Android crashes caused by tor. We updated the fdsan-related issue we previously opened in February 2023 ( https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/core/tor/-/issues/40747) providing additional information on how the problem could be fixed in a way that works on both Unix and Windows systems. We gathered additional evidence regarding the pubsub_install crash and opened another issue in the tor issue tracker (https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/core/tor/-/issues/40774) *## Expanding OONI’s testing model to support richer testing input* We continued exploring the design space around passing richer input to experiments (https://github.com/ooni/ooni.org/issues/1295) by discussing internally a way to update the check-in API and the OONI Run v2 specification to support richer testing input. We aim to review and finalize this design document in the next development sprints and update the existing PoC. *## Creating a throttling measurement methodology* We specified and implemented an integration testing tool, called “netem”, to facilitate writing integration tests that simulate extreme throttling conditions (https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/2424) The netem tool, which lives in its own GitHub repository (https://github.com/ooni/netem) uses GVisor to create user-space TCP/IP network stacks. When running integration tests, the traffic generated by OONI Probe uses its own GVisor stack. We route this traffic through network links written in software that simulate latency and losses. We started integrating netem ( https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/2431) with the OONI Probe CLI repository (https://github.com/ooni/probe-cli/) *## OONI backend* Throughout March 2023, we continued to work on a series of backend improvements. Specifically, we: * Deployed the change to the fastpath to use fingerprints from GitHub ( https://github.com/ooni/pipeline/pull/407) * Implemented the publication of the URL prioritization listing in the API ( https://github.com/ooni/backend/pull/646) * Added an updater for ASN metadata to the pipeline ( https://github.com/ooni/pipeline/pull/414) * Implemented an API endpoint for mapping ASNs to AS organization names ( https://github.com/ooni/api/pull/326, https://github.com/ooni/backend/issues/635) * Added domain and network endpoints to the API ( https://github.com/ooni/backend/pull/641) * Added backend support to the MAT to accept multiple values in input parameters (https://github.com/ooni/api/pull/324, https://github.com/ooni/backend/issues/584) * Removed the “test_name” check from the list of measurements in the API ( https://github.com/ooni/backend/pull/647) * Merged the pipeline and API git repositories into one to simplify and speed up development (https://github.com/ooni/backend/pull/638) * Fixed the API integration test (after adding new columns to the fastpath) (https://github.com/ooni/api/pull/325) * Ensured that the rotation table history is maintained ( https://github.com/ooni/pipeline/pull/412) * Increased the worker count and simplified the queue in the fastpath ( https://github.com/ooni/backend/pull/650) * Fixed a bug affecting the platform field extraction in the fastpath ( https://github.com/ooni/backend/pull/652) * Ensured that the API uses the fastpath repo in CI ( https://github.com/ooni/backend/pull/649) * Cleaned and refactored the codebase ( https://github.com/ooni/backend/pull/645) * Implemented log collection on the monitoring host using Vector. *## Automating censorship detection and characterization based on OONI measurements* We made stable progress on the front of automating the detection and characterization of censorship based on OONI measurements. In March 2023, we focused on analyzing DNS level interference, as understanding the outcome of the DNS measurement is a prerequisite for the interpretation of the following measurements. Specifically, we implemented a DNS blocking analysis that is purely based on SQL queries and we set up a system to assess its accuracy by comparing it with blocking fingerprints. We experimented with applying machine learning algorithms to the DNS analysis. They present very promising cursory results and we will be exploring this avenue further. The outcomes of this experimentation and DNS analysis were presented internally to our team, as well as to external researchers in the network measurement field to request feedback. We also improved the validation of blocking fingerprints ( https://github.com/ooni/blocking-fingerprints/pull/6) and we removed a fingerprint that was leading to false positives ( https://github.com/ooni/blocking-fingerprints/pull/7) *## Improving the quality of test lists* To improve the quality of test lists, we created a prototype script for detecting and optionally automatically removing expired domains from the lists. We implemented this functionality inside the OONI Probe CLI repository (https://github.com/ooni/probe-cli/pull/1114) We will test and discuss this prototype with our partners to gather feedback and evaluate the next steps. For the time being, we decided to refrain from automatically removing expired domains because we found cases where expired domains redirect to other domains that are blocked ( https://github.com/citizenlab/test-lists/pull/1247) and, therefore, their automatic removal would result in missing cases of censorship. We also mined OONI data to identify URLs that were manually tested by OONI Probe users, and which are not currently included in the Citizen Lab test lists (https://github.com/ooni/ooni.org/issues/1228) Based on our analysis, we identified more than 1,000 URLs (from the last 3 months) which should be peer-reviewed (and categorized by country researchers/experts) before added to the test lists ( https://gist.github.com/hellais/14e75ce8b9d5cf04f78644c8e9f66554#file-mine-…) In the meanwhile, we added a few of those URLs to test lists ( https://github.com/citizenlab/test-lists/pull/1250) *## OONI interview for Roskomsvoboda’s Privacy Day event 2023* In January 2023, OONI’s Maria provided an interview for Roskomsvoboda’s Privacy Day 2023 event (https://2023.privacyday.net/) as part of which she discussed how people in Russia can participate in OONI censorship measurement. In March 2023, Roskomsvoboda published the interview in a blog post ( https://roskomsvoboda.org/post/maria-xynou-ooni/) and on their YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yugAH26CK0) *## Community use of OONI data### Access Now’s press release on ongoing social media blocks in Ethiopia* In March 2023, Access Now published a press release urging Ethiopian authorities to stop blocking access to social media platforms. As part of this press release, they cite OONI measurements on the ongoing blocking of social media platforms in Ethiopia. Access Now’s press release is available here: https://www.accessnow.org/press-release/ethiopia-social-media-protest/ *### Sinar Project’s article on verifying website blocks with OONI Explorer* Our partner, Sinar Project, published an article (“Is the Website Blocked? Verifying Internet Censorship with OONI Explorer”) which explains how to verify the blocking of websites through the use of OONI Explorer. Their article is available here: https://imap.sinarproject.org/news/is-the-website-blocked-verifying-interne… *## Community activities### OONI workshop for election observers in Kazakhstan* On 9th March 2023, OONI’s Elizaveta facilitated an online workshop on coordinating OONI censorship measurement campaigns for election observers in Kazakhstan. Following this workshop, the participants created a Telegram chat to coordinate on OONI censorship measurement during Kazakhstan’s elections on 19th March 2023. *### MozFest 2023* On 22nd March 2023, OONI’s Arturo attended MozFest 2023 ( https://www.mozillafestival.org/) where he participated as a speaker on the panel “Co-Creating A Better Tech Future: Mozilla Data Futures Lab” ( https://schedule.mozillafestival.org/session/EMSW79-1) As part of his presentation, Arturo shared the activities OONI plans to do (in creating the next generation OONI Run) as part of the Mozilla Data Futures Lab 2023 cohort (https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/data-futures-lab/) *### DEMHACK 6 hackathon* On 25th and 26th March 2023, OONI’s Simone and Elizaveta mentored the team working on OONI’s task at the DEMHACK 6 hackathon (https://6.demhack.org/) As part of this hackathon, the team of participants worked on developing a script for the automatic identification of parked domains in the Citizen Lab test lists. *### OONI workshop for digital rights organizations from Central Asia* Between 27th-29th March 2023, OONI’s Elizaveta participated in an in-person training organized by CIPI and Internews for digital rights organizations from Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan). As part of this training, Elizaveta facilitated an OONI workshop and helped the organizations determine how OONI data may be useful to their work. *### RWC 2023* Between 27th-29th March 2023, OONI’s Arturo traveled to Japan to attend the Real World Crypto (RWC) 2023 conference (https://rwc.iacr.org/2023/) The goal of attending this conference was to discuss with cryptographers a problem OONI is trying to solve related to implementing a privacy preserving way to authenticate probes and which might benefit from some sort of anonymous credential system. *### OONI Community Meeting* On 28th March 2023, we hosted the monthly OONI Community Meeting on our Slack channel (https://slack.ooni.org/) during which we discussed the following topics: 1. Updates from the OONI team. 2. The effects of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Internet censorship in Russia. 3. Enabling more extensive beta testing of OONI tools by the community. 4. OONI Probe Web: Community questions about the “URL Limit” feature. *## Measurement coverage* In March 2023, 61,415,821 OONI Probe measurements were collected from 3,058 AS networks in 167 countries around the world. This information can also be found through our measurement stats on OONI Explorer (see chart on “monthly coverage worldwide”): https://explorer.ooni.org/ ~ OONI team.

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