ooni-talk

ooni-talk@lists.torproject.org

1 participants
451 discussions

OONI Community Meeting: Tuesday, 28th June 2022
by Maria Xynou 27 Jun '22

27 Jun '22

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/ (bridged with IRC: ircs://irc.oftc.net:6697/#ooni) *=> When?* Tuesday, *28th June 2022 at 13:00 UTC* (for 1 hour) As part of this month's community meeting, we'd like to receive *your feedback on how we can improve OONI's Code of Conduct *( https://github.com/ooni/ooni.org/blob/master/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md#ooni-code-o… ). Please add any additional topics that you'd like to discuss during the meeting in this pad: https://pad.riseup.net/p/ooni-community-meeting-keep We hope you can join us! All the best, ~ OONI team

1 1

PT community meetup June [28/06/2022]
by Vasilis 24 Jun '22

24 Jun '22

Dear all, This month Pluggable Transports meetup will take place on Tuesday, June 28. Time: 10:00 AM EDT / 2:00 PM UTC / 16:00 PM CEST Where: Pluggable Transports channel * [Matrix](https://matrix.to/#/#pluggable-transports:matrix.org) * [IRC (no account required)](https://webchat.oftc.net/?channels=pluggable-transports) * [Slack](https://openobservatory.slack.com/messages/pluggable-transports/) * [Mattermost](https://community.internetfreedomfestival.org/community/channel… Please add any topics you would like to discuss during the meeting here: https://pad.riseup.net/p/pt-meetup-keep More info and details on how to join: https://pluggabletransports.info/blog/pt-meetup-jun2022/ Hope to see many of you there. Best, ~Vasilis -- PGP Fingerprint: 8FD5 CF5F 39FC 03EB B382 7470 5FBF 70B1 D126 0162 PGP Public Key: https://keys.openpgp.org/vks/v1/by-fingerprint/8FD5CF5F39FC03EBB38274705FBF…

1 0

Measuring DoT/DoH Blocking Using OONI Probe: A Preliminary Study
by Maria Xynou 17 Jun '22

17 Jun '22

Hello, Last year, OONI wrote a research paper ("*Measuring DoT/DoH Blocking Using OONI Probe: A Preliminary Study*") which was presented at the Network and Distributed System Security Symposium (NDSS'21) as part of the DNS Privacy Workshop. You can read this paper here: https://www.ndss-symposium.org/wp-content/uploads/dnspriv21-02-paper.pdf This study involves an *investigation of encrypted DNS (DoT & DoH) blocking in Kazakhstan, Iran, and China* with a new OONI Probe experiment (DNSCheck). Today, we're publishing a blog post with a *summary of findings* (and video presentation): https://ooni.org/post/2022-doh-dot-paper-dnsprivacy21/ You can also find a summary of findings through this Twitter thread: https://twitter.com/OpenObservatory/status/1537764247442268161 You can help contribute measurements on encrypted DNS blocking by running OONI Probe: https://ooni.org/install Huge thanks to community members who supported this study! Thanks, Maria.

1 0

Research: A Quick Look at QUIC Censorship
by Maria Xynou 16 Jun '22

16 Jun '22

Hello, In previous months, OONI had the great pleasure to serve as the host organization for Kathrin Elmenhorst's Open Technology Fund (OTF) Information Controls Fellowship. As part of her fellowship with us, Kathrin investigated QUIC blocking & QUIC's potential for censorship resistance. Her findings reveal *QUIC censorship in China, India, Russia and Uganda*, and she shares approaches for QUIC censorship evasion. Learn more about her amazing research through her blog post ("*A Quick Look at QUIC Censorship*"): https://ooni.org/post/2022-quick-look-quic-censorship/ Thanks, Maria.

1 0

OONI submission for OHCHR Report on Internet Shutdowns
by Maria Xynou 15 Jun '22

15 Jun '22

Hello, Currently the 50th session of the UN Human Rights Council is taking place. In response to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’s call for submissions in support of the OHCHR report on internet shutdowns and human rights to the 50th session of the Human Rights Council in June 2022, the OONI team provided a submission with relevant information on the occurrence of mandated disruptions of access to social media and messaging platforms over the past 5 years based on empirical OONI network measurement data. Read our submission here: https://ooni.org/documents/2022-ooni-submission-ohchr-report-internet-shutd… We share *OONI data on social media blocks during elections and protests over the last 5 years*. Thanks, Maria.

1 0

Job Opening: OONI Community Coordinator
by Maria Xynou 06 Jun '22

06 Jun '22

Hello, I'm excited to share that we're hiring! The OONI team (a non-profit fighting internet censorship) is looking for a dedicated *community coordinator* to help grow and support the OONI community around the world. *Information about the job description, qualification requirements, and how to apply* is available here: https://ooni.org/post/2022-job-opening-ooni-community-coordinator/ 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 support our partners and global community of human rights defenders to measure and fight internet censorship. Our community is at the heart of our work, and you will play an important role in helping to ensure that our tools meet the needs of our community. 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! The application deadline is *Sunday, 12th June 2022.* Please spread the word ( https://twitter.com/OpenObservatory/status/1525110440153559040) and help us find someone who can best serve the internet freedom community! Thank you, OONI team.

1 1

PT community meetup April [31/05/2022]
by Vasilis 27 May '22

27 May '22

Dear all, This month Pluggable Transports meetup will take place on Tuesday, May 31. Time: 10:00 AM EDT / 2:00 PM UTC / 16:00 PM CEST Where: Pluggable Transports channel * [Matrix](https://matrix.to/#/#pluggable-transports:matrix.org) * [IRC (no account required)](https://webchat.oftc.net/?channels=pluggable-transports) * [Slack](https://openobservatory.slack.com/messages/pluggable-transports/) * [Mattermost](https://community.internetfreedomfestival.org/community/channel… Please add any topics you would like to discuss during the meeting here: https://pad.riseup.net/p/pt-meetup-keep More info and details on how to join: https://www.pluggabletransports.info/blog/pt-meetup-may2022/ Hope to see many of you there. Best, ~Vasilis -- PGP Fingerprint: 8FD5 CF5F 39FC 03EB B382 7470 5FBF 70B1 D126 0162 PGP Public Key: https://keys.openpgp.org/vks/v1/by-fingerprint/8FD5CF5F39FC03EBB38274705FBF…

1 0

OONI Community Meeting: Tuesday, 31st May 2022
by Maria Xynou 26 May '22

26 May '22

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/ (bridged with IRC: ircs://irc.oftc.net:6697/#ooni) *=> When?* Tuesday, *31st May 2022 at 15:00 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 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

1 0

[Event] Pop Up PTIM Session: Gamer Games Unblocked
by Vasilis 16 May '22

16 May '22

Dear all, Internews announced the next Pop Up PTIM Sessions! These are stand alone sessions, allowing the community to discuss PT related topics and stay up to date on the progress of this community. The second session will be presented by the Dr. Richard Brooks of Clemson University. They will share the work they have been doing for the past few years on the usage of PTs in the context of a VPN application. Read more about it here: https://www.pluggabletransports.info/blog/popup-ptim-minecruft-announcement/ This session will take place on May 19th at 13:00 UTC/9:00 ET. Session Title: Gamer Games Unblocked Registration: https://cryptpad.fr/form/#/2/form/view/GdwbPhD-Cpctzu8WAvVCSdH+G-KMawkttEag… Code of Conduct: https://www.pluggabletransports.info/code-of-conduct/ Announcement post: https://www.pluggabletransports.info/blog/popup-ptim-minecruft-announcement/ Please feel free to share this event announcement. Hope to see you there! --Vasilis -- PGP Fingerprint: 8FD5 CF5F 39FC 03EB B382 7470 5FBF 70B1 D126 0162 PGP Public Key: https://keys.openpgp.org/vks/v1/by-fingerprint/8FD5CF5F39FC03EBB38274705FBF…

1 0

OONI Monthly Report: March 2022
by Maria Xynou 18 Apr '22

18 Apr '22

Hello, OONI's March 2022 status report is shared below. *# OONI Monthly Report: March 2022* Throughout March 2022, the OONI team worked on the following sprints: * Sprint 60 (1st - 13th March 2022) * Sprint 61 (14th - 31st March 2022) Our work can be tracked through the various OONI GitHub repositories: https://github.com/ooni Highlights are shared in this report below. *## Published report on new blocks in Russia amid war in Ukraine* We published a research report on new censorship events in Russia amid the war in Ukraine, based on OONI data analysis. You can read the report here: https://ooni.org/post/2022-russia-blocks-amid-ru-ua-conflict/ Below we share some key findings: * Media censorship. Russia recently started blocking access to independent Russian news media websites (such as Dozhd and New Times) and foreign news media websites (such as BBC, Deutsche Welle, Russian version of Voice of America, and RFE/RL service websites). * Blocking of a website about captured and killed Russian soldiers. Russia blocked access to 200rf.com, which was created by representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine to share information about captured and killed Russian soldiers in Ukraine. * Centralized throttling of Twitter. OONI data suggests that access to twitter.com was throttled in Russia between 26th February 2022 to 4th March 2022. As the throttling of twitter.com seems to have stopped across all ISPs in Russia at the same time (~08:00 on 4th March 2022 UTC), it appears to have been centralized. Moreover, interference to twitter.com appears to have changed from throttling to blocking (through the injection of a RST packet) on 4th March 2022. * Blocking of Facebook and Twitter. OONI data shows that access to facebook.com and twitter.com was blocked in Russia by 4th March 2022 (primarily through the injection of RST packets). * Decentralized censorship. Every Internet Service Provider (ISP) in Russia is responsible for implementing government-mandated blocks independently. As a result, we observe variance in how internet censorship is implemented across Russia, as blocks are not implemented on all networks in the country, and different ISPs adopt different censorship techniques. Some ISPs implement blocks through the use of multiple techniques at the same time, making circumvention harder. * Different censorship techniques. To block websites, OONI data shows that Russian ISPs adopt the following censorship techniques (beyond throttling): * DNS manipulation, redirecting in some cases to blockpages * HTTP man-in-the-middle, serving blockpages * TLS man-in-the-middle * Injection of a RST packet after the ClientHello during the TLS handshake (most prevalent) * Timing out the session after the ClientHello during the TLS handshake * Closing the connection after the ClientHello during the TLS handshake These findings received press coverage from Wired ( https://www.wired.com/story/russia-splinternet-censorship/), Business Insider ( https://www.businessinsider.com/splinternet-in-pictures-what-russian-intern…), VPNCompare (https://www.vpncompare.co.uk/ooni-russia-censorship-propaganda/), and Protocol (https://www.protocol.com/russian-internet-crackdown). This research report also resulted in a donation to OONI from Pantheon, who (along with several other open web leaders) published a statement in support of OONI’s mission: https://pantheon.io/blog/pantheon-rises-support-open-web *## OONI Probe Mobile* We released OONI Probe Android 3.6.0: https://github.com/ooni/probe-android/releases/tag/v3.6.0 This release includes the following improvements: * New Tor Snowflake experiment * New DNS Check experiment * RiseupVPN test temporarily disabled * Links to OONI blog posts and research reports * User-initiated tests start off minimized * Improved progress bar and test runtime counter * Measurement engine synced with OONI Probe CLI 3.14 * Bug fixes and improvements We followed-up with an OONI Probe Android 3.6.1 release ( https://github.com/ooni/probe-android/releases/tag/v3.6.1) with a bug fix. On OONI Probe Android, we also worked on: * Enabling users to disable the VPN warning ( https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/2015); * Exploring how to make the VPN check compatible with Netguard firewall ( https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/1697); * Fixing a bug affecting the re-run button ( https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/2043); * Adding support for in-app language selection ( https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/1933). On OONI Probe iOS, we worked on: * Marking measurements coming from a VPN with a special annotation ( https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/1901); * Ensuring that tests start minimized ( https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/1976); * Changing the styling of the proxy indicator ( https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/1919); * Ensuring that the VPN modal is only displayed before tests start running ( https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/1982); * Addressing a bug that resulted in the minimized running test indicator from missing in the measurement list view ( https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/1981); * Ensuring that VPN warnings are not displayed when the VPN warning option is disabled (https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/2015, https://github.com/ooni/probe-ios/pull/478); * Fixing the background color in the experimental test group animation ( https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/2038); * Improving the progress bar of tests ( https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/2021, https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/1936). *## OONI Probe Desktop* We released OONI Probe Desktop 3.7.0: Leading up to this release, we made several release candidates for extensive testing and quality assurance ( https://github.com/ooni/probe-desktop/releases). Notably, OONI Probe Desktop 3.7.0 includes the following improvements: * New Tor integration (https://github.com/ooni/ooni.org/issues/761); * New Tor Snowflake experiment ( https://github.com/ooni/probe-desktop/pull/271); * New auto-scrolling container for logs when running tests ( https://github.com/ooni/probe-desktop/pull/288); * RiseupVPN test temporarily disabled ( https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/2002); * Bug fix affecting the custom website editor ( https://github.com/ooni/probe-desktop/pull/273); * Bug fix ensuring fallback to English for unsupported languages ( https://github.com/ooni/probe-desktop/pull/274); * Electron upgraded to v12 (https://github.com/ooni/probe-desktop/pull/278). *## Expanding censorship measurement methodologies* We wrote the third prototype of Websteps (codenamed “winter 2022”), our new experiment for measuring the blocking of websites. Rather than modifying the existing implementation, we chose to fork relevant packages of the probe-cli repository into a separate repository ( https://github.com/bassosimone/websteps-illustrated/), which allowed us to iterate faster and perform more changes without the risk of breaking the existing codebase or splitting each change into easy-to-review, small patches. We achieved quite a lot of progress in this fork, ranging from improvements to the underlying libraries to significant progress in terms of the final version of Websteps. The repository itself contains extensive documentation about what changed. Here we only provide some highlights: * We wrote a complete specification of Websteps that not only describes the measurement methodology, but also the analysis algorithms; * We tested this Webstep implementation on a few networks in China, Iran, and Italy; * We improved the conceptual model of Websteps, which now allows us to easily express what we are measuring, with more clarify with regards to the measurement algorithm; * We developed a new integration testing framework for Websteps that (rather than relying on simulating censorship using Linux networking capabilities as we currently do) is based on re-running actual measurements collected on censored networks; * We significantly improved the DNS implementation by adding support for PTR, CNAME, and NS records, fixing bugs and adding performance improvements; * We implemented a DNS Ping extension for Websteps that only runs after specific DNS measurements to collect extra information (e.g. multiple DNS replies) that is rather useful to collect evidence of DNS-based censorship; * We wrote a Websteps measurement library in Python that allows us to process and visualize measurements and manage integration test cases. As a next step, we are engaging external researchers for an additional round of review of the experiment. Following this review (and any further changes based on feedback), we will start the process of integrating the changes into the OONI Probe CLI repository. *## Launch of Circumvention Tool Reachability Dashboard* We launched a new dashboard (https://explorer.ooni.org/chart/circumvention) that presents findings from all censorship circumvention tool test results (including the new Snowflake test) on OONI Explorer. This new Circumvention Tool Reachability Dashboard presents aggregate views of real-time OONI data collected from the reachability testing of circumvention tools around the world. Through this interactive dashboard, users can check whether circumvention tools work and monitor their potential blocking around the world based on real-time OONI data. As the dashboard presents charts based on aggregate views of OONI data, these charts can potentially support relevant outreach and advocacy efforts. *## OONI Measurement Aggregation Toolkit (MAT)* Throughout March 2022, we made significant progress on the Measurement Aggregation Toolkit (MAT) in preparation for the public launch in April 2022. Based on community feedback and extensive testing, we worked on making several improvements ( https://github.com/ooni/explorer/issues?q=is%3Aissue+label%3AMAT+is%3Aopen). Notably, we added support (to both OONI Explorer Search and the MAT) for filtering Web Connectivity measurements based on website categories ( https://github.com/ooni/explorer/issues/288). This enables OONI Explorer and MAT users to filter measurements based on website categories (such as news media) and to easily discover thematic website censorship, such as the blocking of news media websites, human rights websites, and many other categories of websites (we use the Citizen Lab test list category codes). To ensure compatibility between the MAT and the OONI Explorer Search Tool, we added support for domain-based filtering ( https://github.com/ooni/explorer/issues/664) in the MAT (as opposed to filtering by URL). This enables users to get aggregate views of all measurements pertaining to a domain, rather than having to explore measurements separately for each URL corresponding to a domain. We made a series of improvements to the tables and charts generated through the MAT, and we improved the labels and copy used in various features (such as buttons and drop-down menus) of the platform. We also worked on adding code-level documentation to highlight critical parts of the codebase. Following all the improvements, we created a preview link for further testing leading up to the launch. *## OONI backend* During March 2022, OONI backend activities mainly involved the reprocessing of legacy OONI measurements to improve data quality. As part of this, we are working on improving the measurement re-processor ( https://github.com/ooni/backend/issues/569). To monitor the progress, we developed new dashboards on Jupyter. As part of the migration to Clickhouse, we implemented fetching measurements from the spool directory served by Nginx and developed speed improvements for the API's get_measurement. We benchmarked ways to upload database tables from Clickhouse to S3. This could be used in the future to automatically publish database tables to external researchers. We made improvements to our URL prioritization algorithm ( https://github.com/ooni/backend/issues/562) to ensure that popular social media URLs (which are frequently blocked around the world) are always prioritized for testing globally. As part of our work to move probes to the new test helper, we created a monitoring dashboard, we added performance metrics to the API, and we forwarded some of the production traffic to the new hosts. *## Improving OONI data analysis capabilities* As part of our efforts to consolidate block page fingerprints that we find with those collected by the Citizen Lab ( https://github.com/ooni/backend/issues/516), we opened a pull request on the Citizen Lab repository for filtering annotations with DNS signatures from Russia (https://github.com/citizenlab/filtering-annotations/pull/1). These were extracted as part of our OONI data analysis efforts when investigating the emergence of new blocks in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine. *## Creating an online OONI Training Course for Advocacy Assembly* During March 2022, we worked on completing all the materials for the online OONI training course that we are creating for Small Media’s Advocacy Assembly project (https://www.advocacyassembly.org/). In particular, we: * Created 11 screencasts for various OONI tools; * Wrote copy for 10 training slides (which are included in several chapters of the course); * Created quizzes for 3 training chapters; * Coordinated with partners on creating case study videos. *## Test list updates* In response to censorship events, we contributed updates to the following Citizen Lab test lists: * Russia: https://github.com/citizenlab/test-lists/pull/929, https://github.com/citizenlab/test-lists/pull/930, https://github.com/citizenlab/test-lists/pull/934 * Ukraine: https://github.com/citizenlab/test-lists/pull/935 * Egypt: https://github.com/citizenlab/test-lists/pull/939 * Global: https://github.com/citizenlab/test-lists/pull/938, https://github.com/citizenlab/test-lists/pull/947, https://github.com/citizenlab/test-lists/pull/948 We also reviewed and merged several test list pull requests contributed by community members. *## Notable community use of OONI Probe and OONI data* *### ISOC blog posts on blocks in Russia* As part of their “Internet Perspectives: Ukraine and Russia” blog series ( https://pulse.internetsociety.org/blog/internet-perspectives-ukraine-and-ru…), Internet Society (ISOC) published the following 2 blog posts based on OONI data: * OONI Data: Looking For Anomalies and Blocks: https://pulse.internetsociety.org/blog/internet-perspectives-ukraine-and-ru… * Top Categories for New Russian Internet blocks (OONI Anomalies): https://pulse.internetsociety.org/blog/internet-perspectives-ukraine-and-ru… *### Article on network congestion and blocks in Iran* Digiato (an Iranian technology news portal) published an article discussing network congestion in Iran, where Iranian experts discuss intermittent blocks in the country, citing OONI data ( https://digiato.com/article/2022/02/23/why-iran-internet-is-congested). The article also features a screenshot of a chart generated from OONI’s Measurement Aggregation Toolkit (to demonstrate the intermittent blocks). *## Community activities### OONI presentation at Spacemesh Meetup* Spacemesh is a cryptocurrency organization that also has a social causes program (https://spacemesh.io/blog/spacemesh-social-causes-program/). As part of this program, they focused on “Fighting Censorship” and engaged their global community with using OONI Probe ( https://spacemesh.io/blog/winning_together-raise-the-flag/#challenge-overvi…). In particular, they encouraged their community to install and run OONI Probe, and to practice several OONI Probe hands-on exercises (“challenges”) that we shared with them. We were also invited to give an OONI presentation for Spacemesh. On 8th March 2022, OONI’s Maria presented OONI at a Spacemesh meetup. The presentation can be viewed here: https://vimeo.com/688867593 Spacemesh subsequently wrote about OONI in their weekly newsletter: https://smesher.substack.com/p/weekly-inspiration-for-humans-in *### OONI Community Meeting* On 29th March 2022, 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 (new research and OONI Probe releases) 2) Cambodia’s National Internet Gateway 3) Addressing false positives in OONI measurements 4) Simplifying the OONI FAQ *## Userbase* In March 2022, 40,833,632 OONI Probe measurements were collected from 3,155 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.

1 0

← Newer
1
...
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
...
46
Older →

Jump to page:

2025

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

ooni-talk