ooni-talk

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Bangladesh blocked news media websites amid 2024 general elections
by Maria Xynou 17 Jan '24

17 Jan '24

Hello, We published a short report on the *blocking of news media websites in Bangladesh amid the country's 2024 general elections* on 7th January 2024. You can read the report here: https://explorer.ooni.org/findings/11686385001 Specifically, OONI data shows that some ISPs in Bangladesh blocked access to the following news media websites: Manab Zamin, Samakal, Jamuna TV, and Voice of America (VOA) Bangla. These blocks add to the pre-existing list of news media websites blocked in Bangladesh. OONI data suggests that the blocks were primarily implemented by means of *TLS interference* because we observe the timing out of the session after the ClientHello message during the TLS handshake. However, these blocks were not implemented on all tested networks in Bangladesh. While relevant OONI measurement coverage has been very limited before and after the elections, the available measurements suggest that these news media blocks may have been limited to the election period (6th and 7th January 2024). We thank communities in Bangladesh for contributing measurements! Best, Maria.

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OONI Monthly Report: December 2023
by Maria Xynou 09 Jan '24

09 Jan '24

Hello, Happy New Year! We wish you all the best for 2024. :) This email shares OONI's monthly report for December 2023. *# OONI Monthly Report: December 2023* Throughout December 2023, the OONI team worked on the following sprints: * Sprint 106 (4th - 17th December 2023) * Sprint 107 (18th - 31st December 2023) Our work can be tracked through the various OONI GitHub repositories: https://github.com/ooni Highlights are shared in this report below. *## Year in Review: OONI in 2023* We published our "Year in Review: OONI in 2023" blog post: https://ooni.org/post/2023-year-in-review/ In our annual end-of-year post, we share: * OONI highlights from 2023 * Highlights from the OONI community (i.e. how OONI tools and data were used by the community) * Upcoming OONI projects in 2024 Warm thanks to everyone who supported our work in 2023! We’re excited for 2024. *## Published new reports on the OONI Censorship Findings page* Following the launch of the OONI Censorship Findings page ( https://explorer.ooni.org/findings) in November 2023, we published more reports on the platform in December 2023. Specifically, we published the following new reports: * Nepal blocked TikTok: https://explorer.ooni.org/findings/112092297601 * Malaysia blocked MalaysiaNow and website of former MP: https://explorer.ooni.org/findings/178720534001 We also updated our Kenya report (published in November 2023) to communicate the unblocking of Telegram: https://explorer.ooni.org/findings/228466228201 *## OONI Probe Mobile* In December 2023, we worked towards addressing a bug impacting RTL on OONI Probe iOS (https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/2578), and we worked towards coming up with better ways of sharing apk for testing ( https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/2643). *## OONI Run* As part of our work on creating the next generation version of OONI Run (“OONI Run v2”), there were several key activities we undertook this month: * We developed a test plan in preparation for a round of internal testing we’d like to complete in early 2024; * We began testing the link flow; * We continued to work on implementing the add link flow ( https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/2595); * We worked on implementing the dashboard link loading and we reviewed the updates (https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/2594); * As part of testing and adding polish to the application, we also worked on revising the UX for adding an expiry date to links, as well as improved layout for status messaging. *## OONI Probe CLI* We released OONI Probe 3.20.0. The main improvement consists of changes making sure Web Connectivity v0.5 produces the same top-level keys (e.g., `blocking`) of v0.4 when running integration tests in our Gvisor-based QA suite. We also added experimental functionality to miniooni to run scripts written in JavaScript, which supports research use cases where it is not practical to follow a develop-build-deploy-test-edit-repeat loop. See the full changelog for more information: https://github.com/ooni/probe-cli/releases/tag/v3.20.0 We also improved the Web Connectivity Test Helper (oohelperd) to be more robust in case of excessive load (as documented here: https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/2649). We included this improvement into the 3.20.1 OONI Probe release. *## Expanding OONI’s testing model to support richer testing input* The JavaScript based functionality for miniooni that we included in the OONI Probe 3.20 release is an evolution of experimental code that we implemented for richer testing input. You may remember that in May 2023 we created the richer testing input repository ( https://github.com/ooni/2023-05-richer-input) to experiment with several possible richer-input designs. We decided to go with a more minimal richer-input design. But, some of the code we produced as part of this experiment turned out valuable in situations in which we or on-the-field testers require greater flexibility to inform changes in the implementation of existing experiments or in the development of new experiments. *## Creating a methodology for measuring throttling * The Web Connectivity v0.5 improvements included in the OONI Probe 3.20.0 release are such that we can move forward with the A/B testing of v0.4 and v0.5 more widely thanks to the richer-input feature flags now included in the check-in API. We therefore will be able to run this A/B testing, identify additional issues with Web Connectivity v0.5, and make it the default Web Connectivity implementation. In turn, this will allow us to collect better throttling data, given the superior v0.5 capabilities in this regard. *## OONI Explorer* As a result of having added several new menu items to OONI Explorer throughout 2023, the main navigation ended up taking too much space on mobile. To improve the user experience on mobile, we made adjustments to the menu items on OONI Explorer (https://github.com/ooni/explorer/issues/896). We also fixed a bug impacting the display of the countries page in the mobile version of OONI Explorer (https://github.com/ooni/explorer/issues/860). *## New OONI backend documentation* Throughout December 2023, we worked on OONI backend documentation that describes the architecture of the main components of OONI infrastructure. Specifically, we focused on improving the documentation of our backend architecture, data flows, and deployment workflows. We also documented the application metric data flows, our backend systems for monitoring and providing alerts on any infrastructure issues, the dashboards that we use, how we manage logs, as well as information about our pipeline, API, test helpers, URL prioritization system, and other backend information. Our new OONI backend documentation is available here: https://github.com/ooni/backend-documentation/blob/main/backend_documentati… *## Published OONI Community Interview with Ihueze Nwobilor (Paradigm Initiative)* In December 2023, we published a new OONI community interview with Ihueze Nwobilor, the Senior Programs Officer at Paradigm Initiative ( https://paradigmhq.org/). Notably, Ihueze’s advocacy and policy work helped unblock Twitter in Nigeria in 2022! Ihueze’s interview (which we published on the OONI YouTube channel) can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVHeROiypF4 This interview is part of our “OONI Community Interviews” series, through which we highlight the important work of OONI community members. We also published a blog post to share the interview and information about Paradigm Initiative’s work: https://ooni.org/post/2023-interview-with-ihueze-nwobilor/ *## Published OONI Outreach Kit in Swahili* The OONI Outreach Kit is now available in Swahili (in addition to Russian, Spanish, French, and English)! Access the Swahili version of the OONI Outreach Kit here: https://ooni.org/sw/support/ooni-outreach-kit/ We thank our partner, Zaina Foundation ( https://ooni.org/partners/zaina-foundation/) for the Swahili translation of the OONI Outreach Kit. We also thank Small Media (https://smallmedia.org.uk/) for sharing translations for the speaker notes in the OONI workshop slides (included in the Outreach Kit). We hope that the Swahili version of the OONI Outreach Kit will help support OONI community engagement efforts! *## Published the OONI FAQ in Burmese* The OONI Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) documentation is now available in Burmese: https://ooni.org/my/support/faq We thank the community members who translated this documentation to Burmese. We generally consider it important to have this documentation translated in as many languages as possible (particularly in languages spoken in high-risk countries), as it provides answers to the most frequently asked questions involving the use of OONI tools. The OONI FAQ documentation (https://ooni.org/support/faq/) is also available in Arabic, Farsi, Khmer, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, and Vietnamese. *## Published OONI Probe Mobile User Guide in Burmese* The OONI Probe Mobile User Guide is now available in Burmese: https://ooni.org/my/support/ooni-probe-mobile We thank the community members who translated this documentation to Burmese. The OONI Probe Mobile User Guide (https://ooni.org/support/ooni-probe-mobile) is also available in Farsi, Russian, German, Turkish, and Vietnamese. *## Published OONI Probe Desktop User Guide in Portuguese* The OONI Probe Desktop User Guide is now available in Portuguese: https://ooni.org/pt/support/ooni-probe-desktop We thank Cauan Henrique Zorzenon from the Localization Lab community for the translation. The OONI Probe Desktop User Guide ( https://ooni.org/support/ooni-probe-desktop) is also available in Farsi, Russian, German, Turkish, and Vietnamese. *## End-of-year fundraising efforts* As part of our end-of-year fundraising efforts, we improved upon our Donations page (https://ooni.org/donate) and we published a new “Supporters & Funders” page (https://ooni.org/about/supporters), introducing new supporter tiers and benefits for those interested in supporting OONI's mission. On OONI’s 11th Anniversary (5th December 2023), we launched the OONIque Boutique (https://shop.ooni.org), through which the public can get OONI swag (t-shirts, water bottles, mugs, stickers, tote bags) in support of OONI’s work. *## Rapid response efforts### Pakistan blocked access to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube* On 17th December 2023, ISPs in Pakistan blocked access to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. We rapidly responded by sharing real-time OONI data on the blocks (via our social media platforms) on the same day ( https://twitter.com/OpenObservatory/status/1736461861338431903). We also shared relevant OONI data and findings with the KeepItOn advocacy community. Most OONI measurements suggest that the blocks were implemented by means of TLS interference. OONI data shows that these platforms were unblocked by the next day (18th December 2023): https://explorer.ooni.org/chart/mat?probe_cc=PK&since=2023-11-18&until=2023… *## Resources created by the community### Open Culture Foundation’s (OCF) OONI Research project* Our partner, Open Culture Foundation ( https://ooni.org/partners/open-culture-foundation/), launched a new OONI Research project to support OONI censorship measurement in Taiwan. You can find information about OCF’s OONI Research project here: https://ocf.tw/en/p/ooni/ OCF’s OONI Research project is also available on GitHub: https://github.com/ocftw/ooni-research Their OONI Research project covers the following areas: * ASN coverage analysis * Updating the Citizen Lab test list for Taiwan * Localizing OONI tools and documentation In December 2023, OCF published their first observation report (based on the analysis of OONI data from 1st September 2023 to 3rd December 2023): https://ocf.tw/en/p/ooni/report/202312.html *### Building Digital Resilience Comic Strip* Access Now and Core23Lab published a comic strip for journalists, politicians, and human rights activists ahead of the DRC’s 2023 elections. This comic strip features OONI (among other tools) and is available here: https://www.accessnow.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Ngao-Comics-V5-English… *## Citations### Top10VPN December 2023 Newsletter* OONI is cited in Top10VPN’s last newsletter for 2023, which provides a “Year in Review” on internet shutdowns, digital privacy and AI surveillance. Their newsletter is available here: https://top10vpn.substack.com/p/year-in-review-internet-shutdowns The newsletter includes quotes from OONI’s Maria, as well as links to many of the research reports that we published in 2023. The newsletter also discusses the new OONI Explorer features that we launched in 2023 (including our new Censorship Findings page), as well as our plans for releasing a new version of OONI Run in 2024. *## Community activities### State of the Onion 2023* On 6th December 2023, OONI’s Arturo presented OONI at the Tor Project’s annual State of the Onion Community event ( https://blog.torproject.org/state-of-the-onion-2023/). As part of his presentation, Arturo shared OONI highlights from 2023, as well as upcoming OONI projects for 2024. The live-stream of the presentation is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtgTwho1wfQ *### SplinterCon* Between 7th-8th December 2023, OONI’s Simone attended the SplinterCon conference (https://splintercon.net/) in Montreal, Canada. As part of his participation, Simone delivered an OONI presentation and facilitated a workshop on how to use OONI Probe in adversarial networks. This workshop touched upon the following topics: * Basic usage of OONI Probe Desktop, CLI, Mobile, and the miniooni research client; * Failures contacting the OONI backend, tunnel options (psiphon, tor, etc.), and the possibility of configuring circumvention using the `bridges.conf` file; * Failures geolocating the probe’s IP address and plans to make this step more robust; * Using OONI Run v1 for personal research and to coordinate measurement campaigns; * OONI Run v2 with miniooni as a tool to execute any experiment; * Overview of what is possible to measure using the urlgetter research experiment; * The JavaScript functionality introduced in miniooni 3.20.0. The general goal of the workshop was to discuss how to overcome common issues in heavily-censored networks and use miniooni (and hence the OONI Engine) as a platform to collect data that is useful for research, as well as to contribute to improving OONI Probe methodologies. *## Measurement coverage* In December 2023, 54,838,460 OONI Probe measurements were collected from 2,975 networks in 180 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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Year in Review: OONI in 2023
by Maria Xynou 22 Dec '23

22 Dec '23

Hello, We published "*Year in Review: OONI in 2023*": https://ooni.org/post/2023-year-in-review/ In our annual end-of-year post, we share: * OONI highlights from 2023 * Highlights from the OONI community * Upcoming OONI projects in 2024 Warm thanks to our amazing community for making our work possible! We thank every OONI Probe user out there, and we're excited for 2024! Happy holidays! Hope you all stay safe. Warmly, OONI team.

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New OONI Community Interview with Ihueze Nwobilor, Paradigm Initiative
by Elizaveta Yachmeneva 15 Dec '23

15 Dec '23

Hi everyone! I am pleased to share that we published a new community interview with Ihueze Nwobilor, Senior Programs Officer with Paradigm Initiative <https://paradigmhq.org/>. Ihueze’s work is focused on digital inclusion and on making digital technologies accessible to the underserved communities in numerous African countries, including Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Sudan, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. He also led Paradigm Initiative’s advocacy and policy work to unblock Twitter in Nigeria in 2022. Please watch the full interview here: https://youtu.be/eVHeROiypF4 <https://youtu.be/eVHeROiypF4> This interview is part of our “OONI Community Interviews” series, through which we highlight the important work of OONI community members, you can find more interviews on our YouTube channel <https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1sH9kYR-16nlPlFT-RDBs8O0OiS2N6fJ>. We also published a blog post to share the interview and information about Paradigm Initiative's work: https://ooni.org/post/2023-interview-with-ihueze-nwobilor/ <https://ooni.org/post/2023-interview-with-ihueze-nwobilor/> In April 2024 Paradigm Initiative will host Digital Rights and Inclusion Forum (DRIF) <https://drif.paradigmhq.org/about-drif/> in Accra, Ghana, and the call for session proposals <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe4Br2OnP4ilMlOK7H3IGRCnl_yJzSThU1…> is open till January 14th 2024. Please submit your sessions if you are planning to come, and hope to see you in Accra next year! Warmly, Elizaveta

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Net probes
by Luis Fernando Arias 12 Dec '23

12 Dec '23

Hello good day I am configuring OONI probe CLI in several Raspberry pi, the idea is to distribute them in different areas of the country (Ecuador) and begin to measure the quality of internet to detect outages or blockages. So far so good I understand that the tests will run automatically but I need ideas on how to unify the results of the different cities to be able to make a countrywide analysis. Is there any way to get all the results if they are uploaded to the OONI site? Thanks -- Luis Fernando Arias Conexión Educativa lariasb(a)conexioneducativa.org www.conexioneducativa.org <http://www.conexioneducativa.org>

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OONI Monthly Report: November 2023
by Maria Xynou 12 Dec '23

12 Dec '23

Hello, This email shares OONI's monthly report for November 2023. *# OONI Monthly Report: November 2023* Throughout November 2023, the OONI team worked on the following sprints: * Sprint 103 (1st - 5th November 2023) * Sprint 104 (6th - 19th November 2023) * Sprint 105 (20th - 30th November 2023) Our work can be tracked through the various OONI GitHub repositories: https://github.com/ooni Highlights are shared in this report below. *## Launched the OONI Censorship Findings platform* We are excited to share that we launched a new Censorship Findings platform! Along with the launch, we published: * 20 reports on censorship events that emerged in 2023: https://explorer.ooni.org/findings * Blog post sharing information about the Censorship Findings platform: https://ooni.org/post/2023-launch-ooni-censorship-findings-platform/ The Censorship Findings platform was also featured as a “Tool of the Week” in Top10VPN’s newsletter: https://top10vpn.substack.com/p/friday-digest-4-fb-messenger-whatsapp The Censorship Findings platform includes 20 reports on internet censorship events that emerged around the world in 2023 based on OONI data. These short reports include key censorship findings and charts based on OONI data. We describe the criteria that inform which cases we report on in our blog post: https://ooni.org/post/2023-launch-ooni-censorship-findings-platform/#limita… Our goal is to support research and advocacy efforts aimed at monitoring and responding to internet censorship around the world. In response to emergent censorship events, we will continue to publish reports on the Censorship Findings platform on an ongoing basis. We thank the global OONI community for contributing measurements, making the creation of this platform possible. *## OONI Team Meeting 2023* Our team is distributed in various countries (and continents) and throughout the year, we work remotely online. Once a year, we come together for an in-person OONI Team Meeting to discuss projects, strategic priorities, and to refine our roadmaps. Between 8th-10th November 2023, we hosted our annual OONI Team Meeting in Nairobi, Kenya. We chose Nairobi as a location for our team meeting based on our script which automatically provides locations that are visa-friendly, safe, and cost-effective to help ensure in person attendance from all of our team members. We took this measure because last year, half of our team was not able to travel to Rome for our 2022 Team Meeting due to visa issues (and we therefore had to host a hybrid event). This year, hosting the meeting in Kenya meant that all of our team members were able to join in person! And this meeting provided us the opportunity to meet some of our colleagues in person for the first time! In addition to our team, the meeting also included an OTF research fellow who we will be hosting over the next year. As part of the 3-day OONI Team Meeting 2023, we facilitated the following 15 sessions: 1) OONI Strategy: Now and in the Future 2) Automating censorship detection and characterization, and creating a Social Media Censorship Alert System: Discussion of current status and next steps 3) Community engagement and new community roadmap 4) Supporting richer testing input: Discussion of current status and next steps 5) Presenting thematic censorship findings on OONI Explorer: Discussion of current status and next steps 6) Measuring the blocking of VPNs and evolving circumvention games 7) Evolution of OONI measurement representations: Moving towards a flexible architecture and data model for research and presentation 8) Methods for measuring throttling: Discussion of current status and next steps 9) OONI Run v2: Discussion of current status and next steps towards launch 10) Team Health Check 11) Psychological safety and supportive group norms 12) Roadmap session (Part 1) 13) Roadmap session (Part 2) 14) OONI funds and finances for 2024 15) OONI fundraising priorities As an outcome, we have significantly improved roadmaps, and we made important progress on many of our high-priority projects and activities. We also had an opportunity to discuss strategic priorities for the future, as well as approaches for improving our team’s health and organization’s long-term resilience. On 11th November 2023 (after the 3-day team meeting), we hosted a “team bonding day”, providing our team some extra time for in person bonding – which is important given that we work remotely throughout the year. *## Published blog post about IMC 2023 internet measurement hackathon * In collaboration with ISOC, M-Lab, Censored Planet, and IODA, OONI co-hosted an internet measurement hackathon alongside the Internet Measurement Conference (IMC) 2023. In November 2023, we published a blog post sharing the great projects that came out of the hackathon: https://ooni.org/post/imc-hackathon-results-2023/ The hackathon participants worked on using OONI data to investigate IPv6 connectivity, data triangulation to infer censorship or shutdown events, and on correlating alarms across multiple datasets. We were very impressed with the results produced by the participants! During the hackathon, OONI's Arturo created "The Sound of Internet Shutdowns": a sonification project which transforms some of the features of the IODA dataset into synthesized sounds: https://shutdown-sound.vercel.app/ Here is an example of how an internet shutdown in Iraq based on IODA data sounds like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1TFc1AyqI4 The "Sound of Internet Shutdowns" project was featured as a “Tool of the Week” in Top10VPN’s newsletter: https://top10vpn.substack.com/p/friday-digest-3-vpn-vulnerabilities We thank all the participants and co-organizers for making the hackathon a great event! *## OONI Probe Mobile* In November 2023, we released OONI Probe Mobile 3.8.5 for both Android ( https://github.com/ooni/probe-android/releases/tag/v3.8.5) and iOS ( https://github.com/ooni/probe-ios/releases/tag/v3.8.5), which included some minor improvements and maintenance work. *## OONI Run* As part of our work on creating the next generation version of OONI Run (“OONI Run v2”), we continued to iterate on the user interface designs for the web and mobile applications. Most notably, we updated the run button from the dashboard to display the new flow for selecting tests ( https://github.com/ooni/probe-android/pull/632) and we updated the preferences to reflect the new designs ( https://github.com/ooni/probe-android/pull/633). We also started working on our test plans to prepare for internal testing and QA next year. Moreover, we added OONI Run link ID support ( https://github.com/ooni/backend/pull/768) and backend support for searching measurements from a specific OONI Run v2 link ( https://github.com/ooni/backend/issues/701) to the fastpath pipeline. *## OONI Probe CLI* We released OONI Probe CLI versions 3.19.1 and 3.19.2 to address data quality issues caused by changes in the endpoints used by the Signal application. You can read the changelogs at the following links: * https://github.com/ooni/probe-cli/releases/tag/v3.19.1 * https://github.com/ooni/probe-cli/releases/tag/v3.19.2 We also continued working on improving our throttling methodology by merging work into the master branch (see the throttling section) and starting to prepare for the OONI Probe CLI 3.20 release. Our community has asked us to add support for Go 1.21, but unfortunately it seems we will not be able to do that for OONI Probe 3.20. We will nonetheless try our best to support Go 1.21 before Go 1.20 goes EOL in February 2024. You can read more about this topic here: https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/2548 *## Expanding OONI’s testing model to support richer testing input* As part of our OONI Team Meeting 2023 in Nairobi, we facilitated a session on “supporting richer testing input”, as part of which we discussed the current status and next steps. As part of this, we documented the next milestones and improved upon our relevant roadmap. We illustrate the updated plan in the following GitHub issue: https://github.com/ooni/ooni.org/issues/1291 In summary, we aim to incrementally add richer testing input to the data structure returned by the check-in API for the experiments that would benefit the most from obtaining richer input. Based on our current plan, the OONI experiments that would benefit most from richer testing input include: * DNS Check: Richer testing input would allow us to serve information about HTTP/3 and start testing DNS-over-HTTP3. * Signal: Richer testing input would enable us to serve the custom CA and to measure the endpoints from the backend, thus eliminating the need to make emergency releases (such as with OONI Probe CLI 3.19.1 and 3.19.2) to handle endpoint changes. *STUN Reachability: Richer testing input will allow us to serve the STUN endpoints used by the snowflake client and to keep updating them without making new releases. * Tor Snowflake: Richer testing input will allow us to modify some parameters used by snowflake to bootstrap and to reduce the number of cases where we need to issue new bug-fixing releases. * RiseupVPN: Richer testing input will allow us to eliminate the functional coupling in the experiment implementation between checking for Riseup’s API reachability and obtaining the endpoints to measure, thus making the experiment more robust and adaptable. * (Potentially) urlgetter: Richer testing input will allow us to run custom measurements when there is an emerging censorship condition for which we don’t already have an experiment. These changes will modify the OONI Probe client and, for some experiments, we will take advantage of the new ooni/data processing pipeline ( https://github.com/ooni/data). *## Creating a methodology for measuring throttling* We already implemented better support for measuring throttling in Web Connectivity v0.5, which is currently not enabled for most OONI Probe apps users. To enable this experiment for everyone, we first need to make sure that it is fully compatible with the current stable version (v0.4). That is, if a website was previously marked as blocked in a specific way by v0.4, we would like v0.5 to say the same. We would also like v0.5 to provide a more nuanced view of the blocking that is happening, but we definitely don’t want to introduce data quality issues. During November 2023, we made significant progress to make this happen. Specifically, we ran A/B testing between Web Connectivity v0.5 and v0.4 using our Gvisor-based QA suite. As part of this work, we wrestled with the difficulty of mapping the results produced by v0.5 to the ones produced by v0.4. The underpinning issue is that v0.5 results answer the question of “all the ways in which the tested website is blocked.” Conversely, v0.4 analysis code aims to answer the question of “the first way in which the website is blocked.” To reconcile these differences, we needed to significantly enrich our in-probe data processing capabilities. To this end, we authored a new Go package named “minipipeline.” We implemented this package to mirror the data analysis architecture implemented in the new ooni/data processing pipeline ( https://github.com/ooni/data). The general idea is that an OONI measurement (i.e., the piece of JSON OONI Probe sends to the backend and you can inspect in Explorer) goes through the following set of standard transformations: 1) We process the fundamental results inside the measurement (e.g., the results of DNS lookups, TCP connects, TLS handshakes) to produce flat “observations.” Each observation is a statement about measurements performed by OONI Probe with a single possible failure. In other words, each DNS lookup produces an observation, and each attempt at measuring an endpoint (e.g., “8.8.8.8:443” with SNI equal to “dns.google”) is also an observation. We also link DNS and endpoints observations together, take note of the redirect depth (i.e., is this the first request or the N-th redirect?), and distinguish between observations that aim to fetch a webpage and observations that just enrich the measurement. 2) We analyze the observations to produce a synthetic representation called “analysis,” which contains metrics such as (a) which DNS lookups failed where we expected them to succeed based on the control measurement and (b) the linear list of operations performed to fetch the final webpage, sorted by descending redirect depth, type, and result. In turn, Web Connectivity v0.5 uses the “analysis” results to produce its top-level keys (e.g., the blocking and accessible fields also produced by Web Connectivity v0.4). Thanks to this more comprehensive and more accurate measurement analysis process, and by filtering observations to only include into the analysis those observations that would also be produced by v0.4, we’re now able to obtain the same documented top-level test keys in v0.4 and v0.5 for all the test cases defined in our GVisor-based QA suite. This result is a significant milestone for us, because it means we can start running A/B testing in production using existing probes once the new code has been shipped. The aim of this further A/B testing stage would be to collect real world data that is useful to compare v0.4 and v0.5, possibly leading to additional bug fixes and new QA test cases. Additionally, from the engineering perspective, using a similar data processing architecture between OONI Probe and the ooni/data pipeline enables running A/B testing between the two tools in the future, and potentially opens up the possibility of sharing code between them. *## OONI Explorer* As part of our OONI Team Meeting 2023 in Nairobi, we facilitated a session on “presenting thematic censorship findings on OONI Explorer”. As part of this session, we discussed the challenges associated with grouping OONI measurements by resource and presenting thematic censorship findings (while eliminating the risk of false positives) in an automated way. We also discussed and determined the next steps towards implementing this area of work over the next months. In November 2023, we also launched the new Censorship Findings ( https://explorer.ooni.org/findings) page on OONI Explorer (as discussed previously in this report). *## Creating a Social Media Censorship Alert System* As part of our OONI Team Meeting 2023 in Nairobi, we facilitated a session on “creating a Social Media Censorship Alert System”. As part of this, our colleagues presented the current status of the alert system, and we discussed related challenges and next steps. *## Automating censorship detection and characterization based on OONI measurements* In November 2023, we made significant progress in the area of automating the detection and characterization of internet censorship. Specifically, we came up with a new metric for representing the outcomes related to blocking happening, called the Likelihood of Network Interference (LoNI). This metric represents the likelihood that access to a given resource is being restricted via a particular method within the specified network region over some period of time. The LoNI metric is implemented through a new data model called Experiment Results. The analysis code of ooni/data (https://github.com/ooni/data) has been significantly refactored to generate Experiment Results through an intermediate data model called Analysis. The basic idea is to take the Analysis keys that are generated by comparing an individual observation with ground truth data. Through a very large set of rules we are able to assign individual blocking, down and ok rules based on how confident we are in that particular signal being a sign for censorship. We then take all the scores pertaining to a particular observation group relevant to a measurement and generate a MeasurementExperimentResult which should be backward compatible with our existing data model. In terms of performance, some cursory benchmarks were run on the dataset from 2023-09-01 to 2023-11-01 and it was processing data at a rate of ~7k observations per second, scaling on 34 cores. As part of our work (https://github.com/ooni/data/pull/44), we: * Implemented the Experiment Result generation based on the analysis tables; * Implemented minimal UI for MeasurementExperimentResult; * Added support for generating MeasurementExperimentResult as part of mkanalysis cli command; * Added more tests for all of the above. Moreover, we implemented a basic web interface for exploring these Experiment results (https://github.com/ooni/data/pull/43). We started working on creating a fastapi based HTTP API to expose this data to other OONI services, such as OONI Explorer (https://github.com/ooni/data/pull/45). We also wrote a minimal PoC that makes use of the backward compatible aggregation API that is using the new LoNI based experiment results ( https://github.com/ooni/explorer/pull/892). *## Preparing OONI backend documentation* In November 2023, we started working towards writing OONI backend documentation that describes the architecture of the main components of OONI infrastructure. Specifically, we focused on improving the documentation of our backend architecture, data flows, and deployment workflows. You can see a work in progress of the documentation here: https://github.com/ooni/backend-documentation/blob/main/backend_documentati… *## Published OONI Outreach Kit in French and Spanish* The OONI Outreach Kit is now available in both French and Spanish (in addition to Russian and English)! * French OONI Outreach Kit: https://ooni.org/fr/support/ooni-outreach-kit/ * Spanish OONI Outreach Kit: https://ooni.org/es/support/ooni-outreach-kit/ We thank our partner, Computech Institute ( https://ooni.org/partners/computech/) for the French translation, and we thank OONI community members, Mariengracia Chirinos and Katherine Pennachio, for the Spanish translation. We hope that the French and Spanish versions of the OONI Outreach Kit will help support OONI community engagement efforts! *## Published OONI Risks documentation in Burmese* The OONI Risks documentation is now available in Burmese: https://ooni.org/my/about/risks We thank the community members who translated this documentation to Burmese. We generally consider it important to have this documentation translated in as many languages as possible (particularly in languages spoken in high-risk countries), as it communicates the potential risks associated with running OONI Probe. The OONI Risks documentation (https://ooni.org/about/risks/) is also available in Arabic, Farsi, French, Russian, Spanish, and Swahili. *## Creating OONI Community Interview videos* In previous months, we interviewed community members so that they can share their work and their experience with using OONI tools and data. The goal of these interviews is to share how community members around the world make use of OONI tools and data as part of their work. As an outcome, we hope that such interviews will encourage others to use OONI tools too, and that our community members will receive more support for their important work. Throughout November 2023, we collaborated with a videographer on editing footage for OONI community interviews. Specifically, we worked on multiple rounds of video edits and iterations towards producing final short videos (based on lengthy footage). *## Rapid response efforts### Kenya blocked Telegram during KCSE 2023 exams* On 16th November 2023, we were notified by our community that access to Telegram was intermittently blocked in Kenya. We analyzed OONI data and rapidly responded on Twitter, where we shared OONI data findings and charts: https://twitter.com/OpenObservatory/status/1725202738370290053 We were surprised by this block, as this was the first time that we observed the blocking of a popular instant messaging app in Kenya. Overall, OONI data shows intermittent signs of Telegram blocking on several networks in Kenya between 8th to 24th November 2023. The timings of the blocks correlate with the timings of the KCSE 2023 exams. However, it’s worth noting that the block did not appear to be implemented on all networks, as OONI data shows that Telegram was accessible on many other networks in Kenya in November 2023. Out of all tested networks, Jambonet appears to have implemented the heaviest restrictions, as Telegram appears to have been consistently blocked since 8th November 2023. Interestingly, OONI data only shows signs of Telegram blocking until 24th November 2023, which was the last day of the KCSE 2023 exams. We also reported on this case on the OONI Censorship Findings platform: https://explorer.ooni.org/findings/228466228201 *### Guinea blocked WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube* As of 24th November 2023, OONI data suggests that some ISPs in Guinea started blocking access to WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. OONI data shows that the blocks appear to be implemented by means of TLS interference. On 27th November 2023, we responded to this block by sharing relevant OONI data findings and charts on Twitter: https://twitter.com/OpenObservatory/status/1729105525437346052 We also reported on this case on the OONI Censorship Findings platform: https://explorer.ooni.org/findings/296303006301 Recent OONI data suggests that these blocks remain ongoing. *### Nepal blocked TikTok* In late November 2023, we were notified by our community that access to TikTok was blocked in Nepal. We immediately responded by making a public call for OONI Probe testing (sharing relevant testing instructions) on Twitter: https://twitter.com/OpenObservatory/status/1729499672694161890 We subsequently published a report on the OONI Censorship Findings platform, documenting the blocking of TikTok in Nepal based on OONI data: https://explorer.ooni.org/findings/112092297601 OONI data only shows signs of TikTok blocking in Nepal between 24th to 29th November 2023. *## Community use of OONI data### Access Now’s press statement on the blocking of Telegram in Kenya* In response to the blocking of Telegram in Kenya, Access Now published a press statement which cites OONI data: https://www.accessnow.org/press-release/telegram-kenya-connected-national-e… *## Community activities### OONI training for human rights defenders in the DRC* Between 15th-17th November 2023, OONI’s Maria and Arturo facilitated an online OONI training for human rights defenders and journalists in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This training was organized by Partenariat pour la Protection Integree (PPI) and the Integrated Refugee Organization (IRO), and it included 2 OONI training programmes for 2 groups of human rights defenders and journalists from the DRC. We were initially intending to travel to Kinshasa to facilitate a week-long training in person, but we unfortunately were unable to due to visa issues. As a result, we adapted the training programme accordingly and facilitated it entirely online. As part of this online training, we facilitated the following OONI sessions (twice each for 2 groups): * Introduction to OONI * Using OONI Probe and OONI Run: Hands-on workshop * Updating the DRC test list: Hands-on workshop * Using OONI Explorer: Hands-on workshop As part of these sessions, we provided relevant online presentations, followed by Q&A and hands-on exercises. Due to connectivity issues, we also created videos for each of the above sessions to enable the participants to watch the presentations without internet connectivity. To create the videos, we wrote 4 scripts (one for each session) and we automatically converted the scripts to French, which were read as part of the videos. That way, participants were able to watch the video presentations in French. We also followed up with the participants and organizers to share the training surveys and relevant resources for further learning. *### OONI presentation at RIPE 87* On 28th November 2023, OONI’s Arturo presented the Measurement Aggregation Toolkit (MAT) as part of a presentation (“Measuring Internet Censorship with OONI”) at RIPE 87 in Rome, Italy. Information about the event is available here: https://ripe87.ripe.net/programme/meeting-plan/mat-wg/ *### OONI Community Meeting* On 28th November 2023, we hosted the monthly OONI Community Meeting on our Slack channel (https://slack.ooni.org/), during which we shared OONI updates from the past month, and we discussed our thoughts for improving future OONI community meetings. As part of this discussion, we asked participants to share their thoughts and feedback on how we can improve the structure and format of future OONI community meetings to help make them as useful as possible to the community. *## Measurement coverage* In November 2023, 48,336,322 OONI Probe measurements were collected from 3,134 networks in 174 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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OONI swag on OONI's 11th Anniversary
by Maria Xynou 05 Dec '23

05 Dec '23

Hello friends, Today is *OONI’s 11th Anniversary*! :) As of today (11 years ago), the first OONI measurement was published! In celebration, we are launching the *OONIque Boutique*: https://shop.ooni.org You can now get OONI swag (t-shirts, water bottles, mugs, and more!) to support our work. The first 128 orders that use the oonity23 discount code will get 33% off. Huge thanks to our amazing community and to everyone who has supported us on our journey. <3 Warmly, OONI team.

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Nepal blocked TikTok
by Maria Xynou 04 Dec '23

04 Dec '23

Hi friends, OONI just published a short *report on the blocking of TikTok in Nepal* in previous days: https://explorer.ooni.org/findings/112092297601 In mid-November 2023, it was reported that TikTok was banned in Nepal, but very few OONI measurements have been contributed since. Yet, from the few OONI measurements available, we see clear evidence of TikTok blocking. Specifically, OONI data shows DNS based blocking of TikTok. On Ncell, we see that an IP hosting a block page is returned as part of DNS resolution, while on WorldLink Communications, we see the private IP 127.0.0.1 returned as part of DNS resolution. It remains unclear to us though if TikTok remains blocked (due to the limited availability of related data). If you are in Nepal, you can contribute more measurements by running OONI Probe (https://ooni.org/install/). I'm happy to address any questions you may have. Thanks, Maria.

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Support OONI's work
by Maria Xynou 04 Dec '23

04 Dec '23

Hi friends, As a non-profit, donations from people like you support OONI's work in building free tools for exposing Internet censorship worldwide. Today we are excited to share 2 new pages: ** Donations:* https://ooni.org/donate ** Supporters:* https://ooni.org/about/supporters If you donate ≥ €42, you’ll get an OONI t-shirt! :) We have also introduced new supporter tiers and benefits for those interested in supporting OONI's mission. If you value our work, please consider donating today. Thanks so much for your support! Warm regards, Maria (from the OONI team).

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Launch: New OONI Censorship Findings platform
by Maria Xynou 30 Nov '23

30 Nov '23

Hello, Today we are thrilled to announce the *launch of the new OONI Censorship Findings platform*! Access the platform here: https://explorer.ooni.org/findings The Censorship Findings platform includes *20 reports on internet censorship* around the world based on OONI data. In response to emergent censorship events, we will publish reports on the Censorship Findings platform on an ongoing basis. These short reports include key censorship findings and charts based on OONI data, which we hope you will find useful. Our goal is to support research and advocacy efforts aimed at monitoring and responding to internet censorship around the world. We thank the global OONI community for contributing measurements, making the creation of this platform possible. Learn more through our blog post: https://ooni.org/post/2023-launch-ooni-censorship-findings-platform/ And please help spread the word: https://twitter.com/OpenObservatory/status/1730274379433382022 Thanks, OONI team.

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