Re: [tor-dev] Fwd: Orbot roadmap feedback
On Tue, Jan 12, 2016, at 10:48 AM, Georg Koppen wrote:
Nathan Freitas:
- Overall improved configuration / settings UI to make tuning Orbot a better, simpler experience... this is an expansion of the new exit country selector in Orbot v15.1, but also includes managing things like network usage and so on.
Could you explain that point a bit more, what you currently have and what you plan to do? Especially the exit country selector seems kind of scary to me but maybe I am just missing some bits. I looked at the changelog you sent to tor-talk (in the alpha 1 release mail) but did not find anything related.
The broader idea is to determine which Tor torrc settings are relevant to the mobile environment, and that could use a more intuitive user interface than the empty text input we currently offer in our Settings panel. This may also mean implement a slider type interface mechanism similar to Tor Browser. In addition, users are interested in being able to control which network types (wifi vs 3g) Orbot runs on, in order to conserve spending on bandwidth. The Exit country selector option (basically a list of countries that starts with "World" as the option) is definitely controversial, but it is also something that comes up over and over again as a feature request. It is expected especially of a VPN-style app, which Orbot now is. It may be we only enable it when the VPN feature is enabled, and disable it when Tor is used directly via SOCKS from the Orfox browser. We may also need to just sufficiently warn and inform the user so they can decide for themselves what to do. +n
On 12/01/16 16:16, Nathan Freitas wrote:
The broader idea is to determine which Tor torrc settings are relevant to the mobile environment, and that could use a more intuitive user interface than the empty text input we currently offer in our Settings panel. This may also mean implement a slider type interface mechanism similar to Tor Browser. In addition, users are interested in being able to control which network types (wifi vs 3g) Orbot runs on, in order to conserve spending on bandwidth.
Briar's TorPlugin has an option to disable Tor when using mobile data, feel free to backport it to Orbot. Likewise for the plugin as a whole, if it would be a suitable basis for LibOrbot. We've benefitted a lot from your work and I'd love to send some contributions back upstream! Cheers, Michael
Nathan Freitas:
On Tue, Jan 12, 2016, at 10:48 AM, Georg Koppen wrote:
Nathan Freitas:
- Overall improved configuration / settings UI to make tuning Orbot a better, simpler experience... this is an expansion of the new exit country selector in Orbot v15.1, but also includes managing things like network usage and so on.
Could you explain that point a bit more, what you currently have and what you plan to do? Especially the exit country selector seems kind of scary to me but maybe I am just missing some bits. I looked at the changelog you sent to tor-talk (in the alpha 1 release mail) but did not find anything related.
The broader idea is to determine which Tor torrc settings are relevant to the mobile environment, and that could use a more intuitive user interface than the empty text input we currently offer in our Settings panel. This may also mean implement a slider type interface mechanism similar to Tor Browser. In addition, users are interested in being able to control which network types (wifi vs 3g) Orbot runs on, in order to conserve spending on bandwidth.
Sounds good to me.
The Exit country selector option (basically a list of countries that starts with "World" as the option) is definitely controversial, but it is also something that comes up over and over again as a feature request. It is expected especially of a VPN-style app, which Orbot now
True. We see these requests with Tor Browser as well.
is. It may be we only enable it when the VPN feature is enabled, and disable it when Tor is used directly via SOCKS from the Orfox browser. We may also need to just sufficiently warn and inform the user so they can decide for themselves what to do.
Well, warning/informing the users about possibly harming themselves is one thing (which is already tricky in this case given the complexity of the matter). But how do you convey the problem that all the other users of the Tor network could be affected as well if a bunch of users is tweaking the exit node selection based on whatever reasoning? And this does not only have anonymity ramifications but performance/load-balancing implications as well. How is a user supposed to make an informed decision in this case? Georg
Hi,
Georg Koppen: how do you convey the problem that all the other users of the Tor network could be affected
You can always say that and link to the relevant documentation. You can also visualize the affect their participation in the network has, inherently addressing this issue as a result.
a bunch of users
How many is a bunch?
anonymity ramifications
Like what? Feel free to point.
performance/load-balancing implications
Like what? Feel free to point.
How is a user supposed to make an informed decision in this case?
Hopefully by being informed (: The most common usability assumption is that complication and complexity are the same. This becomes an issue when it drives designations and people have their choices made for them, usually in an attempt to make things less complex, when it is complication that is the real issue. Resulting examples are browser windows that decide what size they want to be, ignoring people input. Wordlife, Spencer
participants (4)
-
Georg Koppen -
Michael Rogers -
Nathan Freitas -
Spencer