August 2018 - tor-project - lists.torproject.org

OONI Monthly Report: July 2018
by Maria Xynou 09 Aug '18

09 Aug '18

Hello Tor world, In July 2018, the OONI team published two research reports in collaboration with local partners, examining censorship events in Egypt and Mali. We updated several test lists, continued to work on revamping the OONI Probe mobile apps and made significant progress on the OONI Probe desktop apps. We also carried out UX research (via a survey and interviews) to collect community feedback on the current and upcoming/revamped OONI Probe mobile apps. ## Report on internet censorship … [View More]

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[TSoP 2018] Bandwidth scanner update - report #6
by juga 07 Aug '18

07 Aug '18

Hi, since the report #5, these has been the tasks i have worked on: sbws ----- - Create Debian package for sbws (#26848) - Initial autopkg test support - Continue with binaries should have manual pages (man) (#26926) - Continue with warn when there is not enough disk space (#26937) - Continue with check that the scaling is working [0] - Run sbws and Torflow from same box - Generate and graph sbws results with and without rtt - Generate and graph sbws results with a bigger … [View More]

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Network team meeting notes, 6 August 2018
by Nick Mathewson 07 Aug '18

07 Aug '18

Hi, everyone! Logs here: http://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2018/tor-meeting.2018-08-06-16.58.html Pad contents below: = Network team meeting pad! = Welcome to our meeting! Mondays at 1700 UTC on #tor-meeting on OFTC. (This channel is logged while meetings are in progress.) Want to participate? Awesome! Here's what to do: 1. If you have updates, enter them below, under your name. 2. If you see anything you want to talk about in your updates, put them in boldface! 3. … [View More]Show up to the IRC meeting and say hi! Note the meeting location: #tor-meeting on OFTC! (See https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-project/2017-September/001459.ht… for background.) After each week's meetings, the contents of this pad will be sent to tor-project @ lists.torproject.org. After that is done, the pad can be used for the next week. == Previous notes == 11 June: https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-project/2018-June/001828.html 18 June: https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-project/2018-June/001835.html 25 June: https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-project/2018-July/001863.html 2 July: https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-project/2018-July/001866.html 9 July: https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-project/2018-July/001884.html 16 July: https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-project/2018-July/001888.html 23 July: https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-project/2018-July/001926.html 30 July: https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-project/2018-July/001928.html == Stuff to do every week = * Let's check and update the roadmap. What's done, and what's coming up? url to roadmap: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Ufrun1khEo5Cwd6OwngERn829wU3W3eskdr… * Check reviewer assignments at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Ufrun1khEo5Cwd6OwngERn829wU3W3eskdr… * Also, let's check for things we need update on our spreadsheet! Are there important documents we should link to? Things we should archive? * Check rotations at https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/org/teams/NetworkTeam/TeamRot… * Community guides, it's time to hand off to the next guide! * Let's look at proposed tickets! [but see discussion] https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/query?status=accepted&status=assig… == Reminders == * Remember to "/me status: foo" at least once daily. * Remember that our current code reviews should be done by end-of-week. * Make sure you are in touch with everybody with whom you are doing work for the next releases ------------------------------- ---- 6 August 2018 ------------------------------- == Announcements == == Discussion == * Roadmap revision status -- please get back on that by today. https://pad.riseup.net/p/huDStrBDgqi5 * Backlog on reviews -- is anything stuck? * teor: our current rotations give each person 4 weeks on, then 3 weeks off. I'd prefer 1-2 weeks on, 1 week off. - Let's change starting in september, if there are no objections. * ahf on vacation from wednesday and to the 23rd: i have document planning duty this week, then community hero, then bug triage - anybody up for taking these over the next weeks until i am back? I will happily take yours when I'm back :-) - nick does bug triage on week of 8/20 - Need a CH for next week == Updates == nickm: Last week: * PETS backlog * Port RSA code to nss * various subtickets of 25510 (mobile API): * start tor with owning control port (24204) * fix a bug when restarting with version command * API to expose API implementor * Asked for more 25510 (mobile API) feedback * Prepared for 035 roadmap re-triage with Isabela -- sent email * Finished PETS discussion and meta-review * Diagnosed tricky 27003 regression in 034, due to interesting combination of effects. Needs another review; blocking release candidate. * Revised NSS+DH branch based on feedback from catalyst This week: * Release candidate? * Visiting inlaws Thurdsay through Monday; might miss next monday's meeting. * Revising roadmap. - Other TBD: possibly NSS+TLS depending on backlog status. Mike: Last Week: * Continued to update Open Research Topics post. * Can we link it and Chelsea's post on research.torproject.org? Can we replace the stuff that's there? * Fell into a deep rabbithole with vanguards bugfixing * Wrote https://github.com/mikeperry-tor/vanguards/blob/master/README_SECURITY.md - future blogpost on onion service security. * May contain some heresy. Please comment before it's too late! * Wrote a patch to eliminate the last class of unaccounted-for dropped cells in Tor that I would like in 0.3.4. It's just a CIRC_BW event thing for vanguards. Does not affect behavior normally, and does not change the format of CIRC_BW: https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/25573 * Is a merge commit forward from maint-0.3.4 to master still the way we're handling backports after the code reorg? Can I wait on the maint-0.3.4 review for making this? There are some annoying conflicts to deal with. * Have questions for asn/dgoulet: 1. I am noticing RPs being used that are not in my service's current consensus. Is this legit? Can clients use relays that are not in *any* consensus as RPs? (Like if I decide to use a bridge as an RP?) Will other relays prevent this? [This is legal -- clients and onion services aren't required to have the same consensus. A bridge should not serve as an RP or IP, but I'm not sure we prevent that. -nickm] 2. Can I safely close all of those circuits? What happens to clients when rend circs are ignored/closed? [Clients retry another RP if the service does not respond to a RP, but it's slow, because they have to do another intro as well. -teor] 3. Related: Is it better to close a rend circuit right after the extend to the rend point, or ignore the intro before the rend circuit gets built? [For the network? Ignore the intro. -teor] What happens if you never act on an intro request that you successfully ack (or don't ack)? [The intro point acks the intro, not the service. https://gitweb.torproject.org/torspec.git/tree/rend-spec-v3.txt#n1645 -teor] Is there any difference between either of those and what I'm actually doing wrt performance or security? Can you help me dig/test? (Is ignoring intro requests for certain rends the same as https://bugs.torproject.org/25882 ?) This week: * Sponsor2 report * Catch up on code reviews :/ * Vangaurds release? teor (offline): last week: - I was on the design meetings rotation, but I couldn't find any proposals to progress. I think we did ok with reviewing proposals and updating specs 2 weeks ago. - bwauth mentoring (mainly https://github.com/pastly/simple-bw-scanner/issues/182 ) - PrivCount in Tor: blinding and encryption (#25669, #23126, #26970) - New reviews (#23588) - Fast fixes (#26979, #26986, #23576) - Set up desk and chair - Tor meeting planning - reviewed 0.3.5 roadmap - helped recover consensuses from a Collector outage this week: - I am on the community hero rotation - revise macOS CI for Core Tor (#24629) - Work on PrivCount in Tor blinding and secret sharing branch (#25669) rest of 0.3.5: - Implement PrivCount in Tor noise generation (#26637, maybe #26398) - Merge PrivCount in Tor - Reduce my revision backlog komlo: - Last week: - Reviewed/commented on PrivCount tickets, let me know if we should schedule a meeting to talk over #26970 - This week: - Will finally get the chance to start on #26296, hoping to get a set of initial patches by this week/next week - Prep for RustConf - Send an email this week to aggregate Rust issues that I can check in with Rust people about, such as remaining issues for #25386 ahf: Last week: Sponsor 8: - Helped Arturo with building an embedable Tor .so. Marionette: - Talked with Roger + Georg shortly about Marionette. - Spend some time looking at changes to Marionette since Rome. - Participated in the PT meeting to discuss the above. Misc: - End of month stuff. - Reviewed: #27003, #26903, #26850, #20424, #26952 This week: - Finish all outstanding code reviews before going on vacation. - Write to John from Marionette about contact info etc. in case of troubles with their development efforts. - Make sure everything is good for my Mexico trip. - Go on vacation (8'th of august to 23'rd of august) to do BornHack. Will give a talk on Tor there :-) catalyst: last week (2018-W31): - benefits bureaucracy - reviewed NSS patches some more - reviewed #24649 (macosx builds, really also massive .travis.yml cleanup; thanks teor!) - prop#295 is waiting for Ashur to respond; when should we ping them next? [teor: another week or two?] this week (2018-W32): - ticket review - talk with ahf about #25502 (intermediate PT progress reporting) - create subtickets for #22266 (jump-to-80% problem) and sketch out designs - mikeperry, komlo: is it ok to use/adapt text from your research blog posts for the "big patches" guide? asn: Last week: - Did some triaging on 035/tor-hs tickets. - Looked at some vanguard related issues/code. - Did some more debugging on #26980. - Was on vacations for the better part of the week. This week: - Catch up on backlog from last week. - Do reviews. - Check some updates on ahmia TSOP. - Debug #26980 some more. - Read mike's vanguard updates. [View Less]

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[TSoP 2018] Ahmia status update ~ report #6
by Stelios Barberakis 07 Aug '18

07 Aug '18

Hello all, This is the biweekly status update for ahmia development, that arrives a bit late, since I should have sent it on Friday. The last two weeks I have been working on: === Ahmia-Site === * Added a "Did you mean" functionality. This utilizes Elasticsearch's fuzziness <https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/guide/current/fuzziness.html> functionality, and more specifically phrase suggesters <https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/6.3/search-suggeste…&… [View More]

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Regenerating storm github login token
by silvia [hiro] 06 Aug '18

06 Aug '18

Hi, We need to re-generate the token associated with the github-login mechanism for storm. So if you use github to login to storm.torproject.org you might have to re-authorise it. This will probably happen tomorrow 7th of August. Talk soon, -hiro

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July 2018 report for the metrics team
by Karsten Loesing 03 Aug '18

03 Aug '18

Hello Tor, hello world! Below you'll find the highlights of Tor metrics team work done in July 2018. On behalf of the Tor metrics team, Karsten Published detailed specifications for reproducing the data behind Tor Metrics graphs [1]. [1] https://metrics.torproject.org/reproducible-metrics.html Published specifications [2] for querying and processing the per-graph CSV files added to Tor Metrics earlier this year. [2] https://metrics.torproject.org/stats.html Added two new graphs [3] … [View More]

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Notes from August 2 2018 Vegas team meeting
by Karsten Loesing 03 Aug '18

03 Aug '18

Notes for August 2 2018 meeting: Mike: 1) Working on the next vanguards release and an associated document on other aspects of onion service security (Steph: This may be just a release announcement blog post, sometime next week. We could also turn the security document into its own post, but other people should read it first)(Sounds good - keep me posted -steph). Sarah: 1) Attending Bridge fundraising conference Wednesday 8/1 and Thursday 8/2. Networking to find a grant writer. 2) Meeting … [View More]with Giant Rabbit on 8/3 to talk about updates to the Donate pages. 3) Beginning to put together a fundraising calendar. Monthly giving push - month of September. YE campaign starting on Giving Tuesday 11/27 and running through 12/31. 4) Monday 8/6 meeting with Dan and Nat at OTF. Steph: 1) chairing NYC meetup tonight 2) talking to Derechos Digitales about a joint campaign 3) leading a media training workshop for LFI on Saturday 4) working on website copy and tba copy 5) meeting with Giant Rabbit on Fri about updating donate page 6) sent newsletter Tues 7) published support portal translation post, need to get back to a couple of others Nick: 1) Meeting with Isa on Friday and team on Monday to talk about revising roadmap. 2) Got feedback from hellais on mobile APIs: need feedback from other mobile folks asap. Alison: 1) flying to NYC tomorrow 2) LFI weekend! 3) more Mexico City meeting planning -- sending out agenda email soon 4) working on docs for TB 8.0 5) developing support portal feedback workflow Roger: 1) We picked a team for proposing to RACE. FYI, that proposal will fill up all my time for the next 6 weeks. 2) I'm in the final sprint for the anti-censorship funding via penn. This time for sure! Is there somebody I can hand the baton to, for ramping things up? I am burnt out on this proposal and also all full up on the RACE proposal. 3) I got ahf to start working on the Marionette eval for a start. This is important and we shouldn't drop it just because everybody has their roadmaps and none of them include anti-censorship. 4) I asked Mike about sponsor2 report status. Mike? [I am finishing up vanguards things, and then plan to do a quick push to shore up the WTF-PAD code first. I can make an outline for the report in the meantime, if you would like that - Mike] 5) FYI, PETS 2019 is now scheduled: July 15-20 2019, Stockholm. I hereby start a rumor that we might hold our next Tor meeting right before it. People who wanted to learn this already should be on the (public) meeting-planners list. Shari: 1) deep into hiring for several positions 2) got two grant proposals in 3) meeting planning, including for next meeting in Stockholm in July 2019 4) personnel stuff 5) trying to dig myself out from dealing with above Karsten: 1) Published specifications for querying and processing the per-graph CSV files added to Tor Metrics earlier this year. https://metrics.torproject.org/stats.html 2) Finally completed 1 out of 2 deliverables for our Sponsor 13. Arturo: 1) Sarath has joined the OONI team, yay! 2) Made a lot of progress on OONI Probe desktop apps 3) Reviewed and provided feedback to the tor_api.h: https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/25510 4) We published a report on social media disruptions amid Mali's 2018 presidential election: https://ooni.torproject.org/post/mali-disruptions-amid-2018-election 5) We published a research report examining internet censorship in South Sudan: https://ooni.torproject.org/post/south-sudan-censorship/ 6) We hosted our monthly community meeting 7) We interviewed several community members to collect feedback on the revamp of our mobile apps 8) Next week Maria is presenting OONI at the Annenberg-Oxford Media Policy Summer Institute and is providing a workshop for journalists and advocates 9) We wrote onboarding documentation to share with every new person that we onboard from here onwards [View Less]

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July 2018 report for the Tor Browser team
by Georg Koppen 01 Aug '18

01 Aug '18

Hi! This July was one of the few months without any Tor Browser release. We therefore spent all our efforts into fixing bugs in our first desktop alpha based on Firefox 60 ESR and getting it towards a stable shape. Additionally, we focused on preparing our first alpha for Tor Browser on Mobile. For the desktop we continued with our feature[1] and network code[2] review of the changes introduced with the switch to Firefox 60 ESR. Moreover, we focused on getting the onboarding designed and … [View More]

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