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Report on social media blocking & internet blackout in Benin
by Maria Xynou 01 May '19

01 May '19

Hello, OONI & IODA collaborated on a joint report which shares network measurement data on the recent censorship events that occurred in Benin during its elections. We share OONI data and Ripe Atlas measurements which show the blocking of social media in Benin on 28th April 2019, as well as IODA data which shows that an internet blackout occurred on 4 large ASes in Benin. You can find our report here: https://ooni.io/post/2019-benin-social-media-blocking/ All the best, Maria. -- Maria Xynou Research & Partnerships Director 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 tomorrow, 30th April 2019
by Maria Xynou 29 Apr '19

29 Apr '19

Hello, The OONI team warmly welcomes you to join us tomorrow for our monthly community meeting. Where: https://slack.openobservatory.org/ (OONI Slack channel) When: Tuesday, 30th April 2019 at 14:00 UTC (for 1 hour, until 15:00 UTC) 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'd love to meet you and hear from you, and hope you can join us! Please add topics that you'd like to discuss during 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 or IRC (#ooni) on any other day! Looking forward to connecting with you soon! All the best, ~ OONI team -- Maria Xynou Research & Partnerships Director 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: Tuesday, 26th March 2019
by Maria Xynou 25 Mar '19

25 Mar '19

Hello, The OONI team warmly welcomes you to join us next Tuesday for our monthly community meeting. Where: https://slack.openobservatory.org/ (OONI Slack channel) When: Tuesday, 26th March 2019 at 14:00 UTC (for 1 hour, until 15:00 UTC) 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'd love to meet you and hear from you, and hope you can join us! Please add topics that you'd like to discuss during 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 or IRC (#ooni) on any other day! Looking forward to connecting with you soon! All the best, ~ OONI team -- Maria Xynou Research & Partnerships Director 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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(no subject)
by Willie Wonka 27 Feb '19

27 Feb '19

I have been fighting hackers in Lubbock, TX for over a year. On my parents property sits an AT&T tower #. . All of our computers, wifi, media devices, cell phones, Bluetooth devices have been compromised. There have been attempts on my life because I have uncovered a large scale Stingray Operation taking place in Lubbock. Our phones somehow have the firmware overwritten and there are hidden root files and external storages we have not set up. Our residences and vehicles are getting raided when we leave them for a short period of time. Nothing is ever taken, but items are out of place and doors ajar that were previously closed or vice versa. Attempts to capture video footage is fruitless because even phones without Sim cards sync to Bluetooth and wifi and data is uploaded and downloaded at will, but never our will. Countless accounts have been blocked and information and photos forevet lost due to these malicious individuals. I highly suspect that on our property sits a device, Femtocell, that dupes anyones devices in the vicinity as to the cell site being legitimate. We have found cell phones not belonging to us hidden on shelves with charged batteries and active Sim cards, upon pulling out a Sim card our wifi suddenly crashes and our Direct TV blinks out. Calls are misdirected or dropped when attempting to notify authorities or seek a cessation of these hostilities against our family. Vehicles at all times of the night pull onto the property next to ours and if I try to approach they speed away. During the day vehicles stop on the road in front of our residence and business while engrossed on their phones, the suspicion of these acts are that they always transpire in a certain area or "zone" and Wiggle WiFi, AIMSCID, Ooni Probe and other applications show that we are being middled and it is affecting not only us but neighbors and even residents in a town called Slaton that is about twenty miles away. Recent phone discoveries show that this has been actively going on since 2014, and some Metadata I discovered in our pictures points to possibly 2009 or earlier. I am no hacker, nor a penetration tester, and my knowledge of firmwares, kernels, IMEIs, Metadata, Apps and Apks were non existent until a year ago I decided to look into why our wifi and cell coverage was so lousy. Since that time I have spent countless sleepless nights studying and observing, frustrated and alone piecing together the anamolies and gathering data as I went even if it made no sense to me, I knew it would to others. Two attempts were made to put a stop to my persistence and stubbornness. Both times officials have worked to keep attention away from obvious terroristic acts and attempted murder. I stand with a banner that shouts, "Anonimity and Freedom!" Currently I stand alone, beaten and tired but far from defeated. Whatever the outcome my one year old son will see the stand I chose to take despite the odds. Adrift in the matrix Adrift in the matrix

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Cuba report on media censorship amid constitutional referendum
by Maria Xynou 26 Feb '19

26 Feb '19

Hello, We published a new research report on the blocking of independent media in Cuba amid the constitutional referendum last Sunday: https://ooni.torproject.org/post/cuba-referendum/ Some key findings include: * Independent media Tremenda Nota (which covers women's rights, LGBTQI and other human rights issues in Cuba) was blocked on the eve of the referendum * We observe that many other independent media websites (which have been pushing for a "no" vote) were blocked leading up to and during the referendum as well * Cuba's only ISP (ETECSA) has changed its censorship techniques: they have switched from serving blank block pages to now implementing IP-based blocking, thus censoring access to websites that support HTTPS as well * ETECSA continues though to serve blank block pages for sites that have not added HTTPS support * Some media sites may have previously been blocked by Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) technology, but they are now IP-blocked * Some media sites were temporarily unblocked in January 2019 (and the means of blocking changed thereafter), suggesting that ETECSA may have made changes to its censorship equipment around that time In the report, we share a graph (based on openly available OONI data) which shows how the blocking of media changed in Cuba over the last ~2 years. It seems that the OONI website (ooni.io) is now blocked in Cuba as well, but ooni.torproject.org remains accessible. We thank OONI Probe users in Cuba who made this study possible! All the best, OONI team. -- Maria Xynou Research & Partnerships Director 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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Funded opportunity to work on test lists
by Maria Xynou 22 Feb '19

22 Feb '19

Hey folks, A fellow community member has set up a new project which aims to improve upon the Citizen Lab test lists => i.e. the lists of websites tested for censorship by OONI Probe and other censorship measurement tools. They are now seeking to hire researchers who can work part-time to review and improve upon certain test lists: https://telegra.ph/Internet-Censorship-Researchers-02-15 Specifically, they're looking for researchers to work on the test lists for several MENA countries, China, Pakistan, Iran and Turkey. Details are provided in the link above. The deadline to apply to do research for the MENA countries is Monday, 25th February 2019, while the deadline for the other countries is 17th March 2019. Cheers, Maria. -- Maria Xynou Research & Partnerships Director 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's hiring!
by Maria Xynou 01 Feb '19

01 Feb '19

Hello folks, OONI's hiring! Detailed information here: https://www.torproject.org/about/jobs-backenddeveloper.html.en We're looking for a Backend Engineer to join the OONI team to work on: * our data processing pipeline (& other backend components) * the improvement of our data analysis heuristics * the improvement of our network measurement methodologies This is a full-time 12-month contract position, starting ASAP (no later than mid-May 2019). The contract may be extended, depending on performance and available funds. Extensive experience in python or golang is required. Previous experience working with data processing pipelines & familiarity with the network measurement field is preferred. As OONI doesn't have an office, this is a remote position. Most OONI team members are based out of Europe. Do you know someone right for this position? We'd appreciate it if you could please share this job opening with your networks! Warm thanks, ~ OONI team. -- Maria Xynou Research & Partnerships Director 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: Blocking of Wikipedia & Social Media in Venezuela
by Maria Xynou 29 Jan '19

29 Jan '19

Hello, In collaboration with Venezuela Inteligente, IPYS Venezuela & DFRLab, we just published a new research report, titled: "From the blocking of Wikipedia to Social Media: Venezuela's Political Crisis". Our joint report is available via the following links: * OONI site: https://ooni.torproject.org/post/venezuela-blocking-wikipedia-and-social-me… * VI site: https://vesinfiltro.com/noticias/report-jan-2019/ * IPYS site: https://ipysvenezuela.org/2019/01/29/from-the-blocking-of-wikipedia-to-soci… We share OONI data on recent, politically-motivated cases of internet censorship in Venezuela, starting off with the blocking of Wikipedia, to then sharing data on the recent blocking of Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. We also examine network anomalies that occurred during last week's protests, which show that some Google IPs might have temporarily been blocked. OONI data findings were further corroborated through manual curl testing, in collaboration with Venezuela Inteligente. Our findings show that Venezuelan ISPs have started to rely on more advanced censorship techniques, beyond DNS-based censorship, as state-owned CANTV is implementing SNI-based filtering as well. This follows years of increased censorship events, as documented in our previous research report: https://ooni.io/post/venezuela-internet-censorship/ We observe a strong correlation between recent political events and internet censorship in Venezuela (explained comprehensively in our latest report). The situation remains tense and as political events unfold, the public can monitor censorship events through the use of OONI Probe (https://ooni.io/install/) and OONI data (https://ooni.io/data/) We thank all OONI Probe users in Venezuela who made this study possible. Please share our research with your networks: https://twitter.com/OpenObservatory/status/1090346458707050496 Thanks, ~ OONI team. -- Maria Xynou Research & Partnerships Director 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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Revamped OONI Probe mobile app on F-Droid
by Maria Xynou 24 Jan '19

24 Jan '19

Hello, The revamped OONI Probe mobile app is available on F-Droid! :) https://f-droid.org/packages/org.openobservatory.ooniprobe/ Cheers, Maria. -- Maria Xynou Research & Partnerships Director 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 on Zimbabwe social media blocking & internet blackouts
by Maria Xynou 23 Jan '19

23 Jan '19

Hello, In collaboration with the Digital Society of Zimbabwe, we co-published a research report examining the blocking of social media & the 2 internet blackouts in Zimbabwe over the last week. Our joint report is available via the following links: https://ooni.io/post/zimbabwe-protests-social-media-blocking-2019/ http://www.dszim.org/2019/01/23/zimbabwe-protests-social-media-blocking-and… We share OONI data that shows the blocking of WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. We are - probably for the first time - able to, indirectly, observe the presence of 2 internet blackouts as well via the lack of OONI measurements across networks during specific time-frames. This is further corroborated by IODA data (also shared in this report), as well as by relevant reporting by locals, community members, and the media. OONI data also shows that the blocking of social media was lifted on 21st January 2019, when the High Court ruled that internet shutdowns are illegal and ordered the government to restore connectivity. If you're interested in expanding upon this study, you can do so by: * Running OONI Probe: https://ooni.io/install/ * Analyzing OONI data (collected from Zimbabwe or elsewhere): https://ooni.io/data/ We thank all OONI Probe users in Zimbabwe who made this study possible! Best, Maria. -- Maria Xynou Research & Partnerships Director 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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