December 2021 - tor-project - lists.torproject.org

minutes from the sysadmin meeting
by Antoine Beaupré 08 Dec '21

08 Dec '21

Hi! TPA held its last meeting of the year, and it was a big one because this time we welcomed the UX and community folks to talk about web things. # Roll call: who's there and emergencies * anarcat * gaba * gus * kez * lavamind * nah # Final roadmap review before holidays What are we *actually* going to do by the end of the year? See the 2021 roadmap, which we'll technically be closing this month: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/tpa/team/-/wikis/roadmap/2021#q4 Here are the updates: * blog migration done! * discourse instance now in production! * jenkins (almost) fully retired (just needs to pull rouyi and the last builder off, waiting for the Debian package tests) * tpa mailing list *will* be created * submission server ready, waiting for documentation for launch * donate website rewrite postponed to after the year-end campaign * bridges.torproject.org not necesssarily deployed before the holidays, but a priority ## Website redesign retrospective Gus gave us a quick retrospective on the major changes that happened on the websites in the past few years. The website migration started in 2018, based on a new design made by Antonela. In Tor Dev Meeting Rome, we discussed how to do the migration. The team was antonela (design), hiro (webdev), alison and gus (content), steph (comms), pili (pm), and emmapeel (l10n). The main webpage totally redesigned, and support.tpo created as a new portal. Some docs from Trac and RT articles imported in support.tpo. Lektor was chosen because: - localisation support - static site generator - written in Python - can provide a web interface for editors But dev.tpo was never launched. We have a spreadsheet (started with duncan at an All Hands meeting in early 2021) with content that still needs to be migrated. We didn't have enough people to do this so we prioritized the blog migration instead. ### Where we are now We're using lektor mostly everywhere, except metrics, research, and status.tpo: * metrics and research portal was separate, developed in hugo. irl made a bootstrap template following the styleguide * status was built by anarcat using hugo because there was a solid "status site" template that matched A lot of content was copied to the support and community portals, but some docs are only available in the old site (2019.www.tpo). We discussed creating a docs.tpo for documentation that doesn't need to be localized and not for end-users, more for advanced users and developers. So what do we do with docs.tpo and dev.tpo next? dev.tpo just needs to happen. It was part of sponsor9, and was never completed. docs.tpo was for technical documentation. dev.tpo was a presentation of the project. dev.tpo is like a community portal for devs, not localized. It seems docs.tpo could be part of dev.tpo, as the distinction is not very clear. ## web OKR 2022 brainstorm To move forward, we did a quick brainstorm of a roadmap for the web side of TPA for 2022. Here are the ideas that came out: * check if bootstrap needs an upgrade for all websites * donation page launch * sponsor 9 stuff: collected UX feedback for portals, which involves web to fix issues we found, need to prioritise * new bridge website (sponsor 30) * dev portal, just do it (see [issue 6][]) [issue 6]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/web/dev/-/issues/6 We'll do another meeting in jan to make better OKRs for this. We also need to organise with the new people: * onion SRE: new OTF project USAGM, starting in february * new community person The web roadmap should live somewhere under the [web wiki][] and be cross-referenced from the [TPA roadmap section][]. [web wiki]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/web/team/-/wikis/home [TPA roadmap section]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/tpa/team/-/wikis/roadmap/2022 ## Systems side We didn't have time to review the TPA dashboards, and have delegated this to the next weekly checkin, on December 13th. * https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/tpa/team/-/boards/117 * https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/tpa/-/boards # Holidays Who's AFK when? * normal TPI: dec 22 - jan 5 (incl.) * anarcat: dec 22 - jan 10th, will try to keep a computer around and not work, which is hard * kez: normal TPI, will be near a computer, checking on things from time to time * lavamind: normal TPI (working on monday or tuesday 20/21, friday 7th), will be near a computer, checking on things from time to time TPA folks can ping each other on signal if you see something and need help or take care of it. Let's keep doing the triage rotation, which means the following weeks: * week 50 (dec 5-11): lavamind * week 51 (dec 12-18): anarcat * week 52 (dec 19-25): kez * week 1 2022 (dec 26 - jan 1 2022): anarcat * week 2 (jan 2-7 2022): lavamind * week 3 (jan 8-14 2022): kez anarcat and lavamind swapped the two last weeks, normal schedule (anarcat/kez/lavamind) should resume after. The idea is *not* to work as much as we currently do, but only check for emergencies or "code red". As a reminder, this policy is defined in [TPA-RFC-2][], [support levels][]. The "code red" example does not currently include GitLab CI, but considering the rise in that service and the pressure on the shadow simulations, we may treat major outages on runners as a code red during the vactions. [TPA-RFC-2]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/tpa/team/-/wikis/policy/tpa-rfc-2-support [support levels]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/tpa/team/-/wikis/policy/tpa-rfc-2-support… # Other discussions We need to review the dashboards during the next checkin. We need to schedule a OKR session for the web team in January. # Next meeting No meeting was scheduled for next month. Normally, it would fall on January 3rd 2022, but considering we'll be on vacation during that time, we should probably just schedule the next meeting on January 10th. # Metrics of the month * hosts in Puppet: 88, LDAP: 88, Prometheus exporters: 139 * number of Apache servers monitored: 27, hits per second: 176 * number of Nginx servers: 2, hits per second: 0, hit ratio: 0.81 * number of self-hosted nameservers: 6, mail servers: 8 * pending upgrades: 0, reboots: 0 * average load: 1.68, memory available: 3.97 TiB/4.88 TiB, running processes: 694 * disk free/total: 84.64 TiB/35.46 TiB * bytes sent: 340.91 MB/s, received: 202.82 MB/s * [GitLab tickets][]: 164 tickets including... * open: 0 * icebox: 142 * backlog: 10 * next: 8 * doing: 2 * (closed: 2540) [Gitlab tickets]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/tpa/team/-/boards We're already progressing towards our Debian bullseye upgrades: 11 out of those 88 machines have been upgraded. We did retire a few buster boxes however, which helped: we had a peak of 91 machines, in October *and* early December, which implies we have quite a bit of churn in the number of machines created and destroyed, which is interesting in its own right. We do not have a completion date yet, but considering that (a) the first bullseye hosts were introduced in September and (b) that we have ~12.5% of the hosts upgraded, it will take us another 21 months (or 7 quarters, more than two years!) to complete the upgrade. Obviously, a few work sessions will be required to meet our planned deadline (next summer). -- Antoine Beaupré torproject.org system administration

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UX team monthly meetings notes, December 7th
by Duncan Russell 07 Dec '21

07 Dec '21

Hello, Thanks everyone who made it to today's UX team monthly meeting! We're looking forward to seeing you all again on January 11th, with an aim to resume <hopefully shorter> weekly team meetings thereafter. Here are the minutes: http://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2021/tor-meeting.2021-12-07-13.59.log… <http://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2021/tor-meeting.2021-12-07-13.59.log…> Today we discussed Tor Browser 11.0.1 for desktop's release and ongoing user support, shared an update on the UX Team’s search for a Brand Designer, listed some ways we can improve weekly project management within the team, and discussed the need to update our onboarding materials for volunteer user researchers. *** == Monthly User Experience Team Meeting == Open IRC meetings happen monthly on the first Tuesday of the month at 1400 UTC in #tor-meeting on OFTC. The next meeting will be held on Tuesday January 11th at 1400 UTC in #tor-meeting on OFTC. Here are the minutes from our most recent meetings: December 7th: http://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2021/tor-meeting.2021-12-07-13.59.log… <http://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2021/tor-meeting.2021-12-07-13.59.log…> Novemebr 9th: http://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2021/tor-meeting.2021-11-09-13.59.log… <http://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2021/tor-meeting.2021-11-09-13.59.log…> October 12th: http://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2021/tor-meeting.2021-10-12-13.59.log… <http://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2021/tor-meeting.2021-10-12-13.59.log…> -------------------------- Tuesday December 7th 14:00 UTC -------------------------- == What projects are we working on? == S9 - Usability and Community Intervention on Support for Democracy and Human Rights https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/-/issues?scope=all&utf8=%E2%9C%93&… <https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/-/issues?scope=all&utf8=%E2%9C%93&…>[]=Sponsor%209&label_name[]=UX S30 - Empowering Communities in the Global South to Bypass Censorship https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/-/issues?scope=all&utf8=%E2%9C%93&… <https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/-/issues?scope=all&utf8=%E2%9C%93&…>[]=Sponsor%2030&label_name[]=UX S96 – Rapid Expansion of Access to the Uncensored Internet through Tor in China, Hong Kong, & Tibet https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/-/milestones/24 <https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/-/milestones/24> S101 - Tor VPN Client for Android https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/-/milestones/32 <https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/-/milestones/32> == Announcements == * Tor Browser 11.0.1 Release (desktop only): https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-1101/ <https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-1101/> == Agenda == 1. Tor Browser 11 post-launch update Forum thread here: https://forum.torproject.net/t/new-release-tor-browser-11-0-1/656 <https://forum.torproject.net/t/new-release-tor-browser-11-0-1/656> 2. Brand Designer hiring update Job post here: https://www.torproject.org/about/jobs/brand-designer/ <https://www.torproject.org/about/jobs/brand-designer/> 3. UX Team Project Management – how can we improve it? Roadmap & planning board: https://www.figma.com/file/n4ETd0cUkcfj3KyclJQnt3/UX-Team-Planning?node-id=… <https://www.figma.com/file/n4ETd0cUkcfj3KyclJQnt3/UX-Team-Planning?node-id=…> UX Kanban: https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/-/boards?scope=all&utf8=%E2%9C%93&… <https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/-/boards?scope=all&utf8=%E2%9C%93&…> We decided to: - Restart weekly team meetings in January (at the same timeslot?) - Begin each team meeting with our todolists and a mini-ticket triage - Consider a separate label for UX team work (distinct from tpo UX issues) or otherwise optimize the UX kanban 4. Create research plan for volunteers https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/ux/research/-/issues/51 <https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/ux/research/-/issues/51> Todo list: - Create a new onboarding process for volunteers - Include two new research plans (one for desktop, one for mobile) - Send it to the mailing list - Include an open floor to share findings during the weekly meetings == Open Call for User Research == Find out how to contribute to the UX team: https://community.torproject.org/user-research/how-to-volunteer/ <https://community.torproject.org/user-research/how-to-volunteer/> Thanks everyone! *** Duncan Larsen-Russell Product Manager & UX Team Lead duncan(a)torproject.org <mailto:duncan@torproject.org>

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Joydeep's Monthly Status Report for November 2021
by Joydeep Sen Gupta 07 Dec '21

07 Dec '21

Hello everyone! This is my monthly status report for November, 2021. The priorities for this month have been to launch and moderate the Tor Forum (forum.torproject.net) publicize the forum on our traditional user support channels [1], update Tor Browser manual with the release of Tor Browser 11 [2] and continue our user support work. # Frontdesk Frontdesk stats: Timeline : 05 Nov 2021 - 05 Dec 2021 Tickets: new: 157 open: 13 resolved: 185 Breakdown of number of RT tickets received with respect to operating system: Windows (11,10,8,7) - 19 macOS - 36 GNU/Linux - 19 Android- 2 (Note: This includes tickets where the user mentioned the operating system or it was evident from the issue they were running into and/or enclosed screenshots.) Breakdown of tickets (at least 3 RT tickets): 1. 45 RT Tickets - Known Issues with Tor Browser 11 and 11.0.1 [3] 2. 25 RT Tickets - Tor Browser 11 is incompatible with older versions of macOS. The version of Firefox ESR (91.3.0) on which Tor Browser 11 is based requires [4] macOS 10.12 or above and we have received numerous complains from the users stuck on the unsupported versions of macOS. 3. 9 RT Tickets - Private Bridge requests. 4. 9 RT Tickets - Tor Browser 11 crashes when using Protonmail (and some other websites). We have Bug 40721 [5] to track this issue but as a workaround we have been recommending users to either use old.protonmail.com or Protonmail's onion service. 5. 3 RT Tickets - Reports of fake Tor apps on the App Store. All of the entries we have received last month are already mentioned in the Bad/Impersonating Tor Browser wiki entry [6]. # Tor Forum Most popular topics that have been discussed in the past month (in terms of views): 1. Tor blocked in Russia: how to circumvent censorship [7]. Since December, some ISPs in Russia have started to block access to Tor. More information about this on Bug #40050 [8] 2. Relays running an unsupported (EOL) Tor version [9]. Announcement post that we are going to phase out Tor relays that are running old and unsupported versions of Tor. 3. (Tor Browser 11) UI Broke after updating [10]. One of the known issues with Tor Browser 11 [11], this saw a lot of discussion both on the forum and frontdesk. 4. Should I install a new add-on or extension in Tor Browser, like AdBlock Plus or uBlock Origin? [12]. One of the traditional FAQs from users of the Tor Browser. We also have a Support Portal entry [13] regarding this (also see the answer to the forum thread). 5. Only connection via Tor for the entire operating system [14]. Discussion around how one can force all of their OS traffic through Tor. If you have any suggestions, questions or want to discuss anything in detail please feel free to get in touch. Thanks, -- Joydeep [1]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/community/support/-/issues/40046 [2]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/web/manual/-/issues/112 [3]: https://forum.torproject.net/t/new-release-tor-browser-11-0-1/656#known-iss… [4]: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/91.3.0/system-requirements/ [5]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/40721 [6]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/wikis/Bad_TorB… [7]: https://forum.torproject.net/t/tor-blocked-in-russia-how-to-circumvent-cens… [8]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/community/support/-/issues/40050 [9]: https://forum.torproject.net/t/relays-running-an-unsupported-eol-tor-versio… [10]: https://forum.torproject.net/t/ui-broke-after-updating/535/19 [11]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/40702 [12]: https://forum.torproject.net/t/should-i-install-a-new-add-on-or-extension-i… [13]: https://support.torproject.org/tbb/tbb-14/ [14]: https://forum.torproject.net/t/only-connection-via-tor-for-the-entire-opera…

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Tor DEF CON 29 badges available, limited time
by Al Smith 06 Dec '21

06 Dec '21

Hello Tor people! I'm very excited to share that we have a new, limited-time-only gift available through https://donate.torproject.org. From now through December 13, Tor DEF CON 29 badges -- fully functional mini lie detectors -- are available with a donation of $500 to the Tor Project. Your donation makes an impact for the millions of people who need Tor every day by helping us improve Tor network speeds, re-write Tor in Rust, build community among relay operators, and re-imagine the flow of censorship circumvention in Tor Browser. As a token of our thanks, you will receive the Tor DEF CON 29 badge. Only ~200 are available. We are extremely appreciative of your support and hope you enjoy this gift! P.S.: Please extend a huge thank you to Tor supporters seeess and gigs for designing and assembling these badges, both for DEF CON 29 in-person and for this limited run as part of our year-end campaign. -- Al Smith (they/them) Fundraising Director The Tor Project https://www.torproject.org | http://2gzyxa5ihm7nsggfxnu52rck2vv4rvmdlkiu3zzui5du4xyclen53wid.onion/

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Tails is hiring a Project Manager
by intrigeri 06 Dec '21

06 Dec '21

Hi, Tails, a portable operating system that protects against surveillance and censorship, is looking for a project manager to make our organization function better. Summary ======= Tails, a portable operating system that protects against surveillance and censorship, is looking for a project manager to make our organization function better. In the last 12 years, from a tiny volunteer-run Free Software project, Tails has grown to a setup in which almost all the work is done by paid workers, with a 350k€ yearly budget. This allowed us to increase by several orders of magnitude the quality and pace of development of our product. However, this growth happened faster than the corresponding, necessary increase of our organization & social skills and capacity. As a result, lots of the organization and social work still relies on the founders of the project. For our project to thrive sustainably, we want to establish a new role for someone who will work with us to develop our organization and manage our day-to-day operations, building upon our core values of transparency, autonomy, and horizontal decision-making. About Tails =========== Tails is a non-profit organization whose mission is to empower people worldwide by giving out an operating system that protects from surveillance and censorship. We make digital security tools accessible to everyone, whenever they need it: activists, journalists, freedom fighters, and ultimately, you, whenever you need extra privacy in this digital world. The Tails project was started in 2009 and has now more than 30 000 daily users. Read more about our mission and values: https://tails.boum.org/contribute/mission/ Tails is: * Non-profit We put our users first, not profits. * Free Software All our work is published as Free Software and we work closely with related projects (Debian, GNOME, Tor, etc.). * Small team We are a small team that values transparency, autonomy, and horizontal decision-making. * Remote and international We are a fully remote team and our team members can work from anywhere they want around the world. We have workers in 10 different countries. * Flexible commitment People work for Tails full-time, part-time, or as consultants. If you like flexibility, Tails is a place for you. * Equal opportunity, equal pay We are committed to creating an inclusive and equitable environment for all. We have a transparent compensation scheme where everybody enjoys comparable pay and benefits. About this job application ========================== Role description ---------------- We are looking for someone who will work with us to make Tails a healthier organization & work place, and provide project-wide management, supporting both organizational and team-level objectives: - Facilitation, community management: facilitate decision-making about collective processes, implement them. For example, deciding who is invited to our yearly gathering, setting up a process for responding to Code of Conduct violations. - Project-wide management: - Help our teams function well and remain aligned with the priorities of the organization. Manage grant projects with deadlines. - Negotiate and document expectations. Set up self-evaluation, feedback, and accountability mechanisms. - Encourage workers to grow within the organization. Ensure their needs, desires, and problems they're facing are heard and followed-up with. - Identify knowledge gaps and recruitment needs: which roles we should hire for and when. - Facilitate the flow of useful information through the project, connecting it to the bigger picture as needed. For example, our Fundraising team needs to know about the capacity and priorities of our teams, so they can design grant proposals. Transforming our organization is a substantial project. It will take time and multiple iterations. It's OK: we are in it for the long run. You will have agency in shaping the role and setting priorities, in collaboration with the rest of team, based on which you will organize your work and time autonomously. You will work remotely. Our team is global and with various degrees of involvement, so you will use mostly asynchronous communication channels (email and bug tracker), although we also use text-based chat and do plenty of video calls. During non-pandemic times, some travel is expected, generally 2-4 times per year, including the annual gathering of regular Tails contributors. Qualifications -------------- - If you are part of a group that is under-represented in tech, we particularly encourage you to apply. We acknowledge that our community is not as diverse and equitable as we would like it to be. We understand that we are part of the problem. We want the Tails project to become more equitable. - You can commit 25-35 hours per week on a long-term basis. The exact scope of your responsibilities will depend on how much you work within this range. - You can work comfortably at least 3 hours during the peak of Tails activities: between 10:00 and 17:00 CEST/CET. - Professional experience organizing team collaboration. - Experience participating in groups that value transparency, autonomy, and horizontal decision-making. - Group and inter-individual communication skills demonstrated, for example, by experience facilitating collective processes. - Conceptual understanding of software development work. - Enthusiastic about our mission and values (https://tails.boum.org/contribute/mission/) motivated by social impact. - Some experience working fully remote, primarily with asynchronous communication. - Good written and spoken English communication skills. Additionally, although that's optional, we would love it if you had experience participating in Free and Open Source Software communities. Compensation and benefits ------------------------- Pay scale is 40-100 k€ per year, including medical coverage. The exact number depends solely on: - How much time you work - Your tax situation - Cost of medical coverage On top of this, Tails pays for: - Exceptional health expenses not covered by your policy - Computer equipment - Travel expenses to work events How to apply ============ See https://tails.boum.org/jobs/project_manager/#apply Cheers!

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UX team meeting on Tuesday, December 7th
by Duncan Russell 05 Dec '21

05 Dec '21

Hi everyone! Our next User Experience Team meeting will be held on Tuesday December 7th at 1400 UTC in #tor-meeting.* During this meeting we’ll share an update on the UX Team’s ongoing work across key projects, including post-launch support for Tor Browser 11, our search for a new Brand Designer, and a short collaborative session to discuss ways in which we can better track the workload across the team on a weekly basis. If you'd like to get involved please feel free to add your items to the pad: https://pad.riseup.net/p/1D8sK8Zy74b_0qclC97I-ux-team-monthly-2020-keep <https://pad.riseup.net/p/1D8sK8Zy74b_0qclC97I-ux-team-monthly-2020-keep> Remember, User Experience team meetings are an open space for discussion around ethical user research, user interface design and the user experience of privacy-enhancing products. See you soon! Duncan [*] https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/ux/team/-/wikis/home <https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/ux/team/-/wikis/home> *** Duncan Larsen-Russell Product Manager & UX Team Lead duncan(a)torproject.org <mailto:duncan@torproject.org>

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OnionShare Desktop S96, November progress report
by Micah Lee 03 Dec '21

03 Dec '21

This is the November progress report from the OnionShare Desktop team for the S96 project. In November we: - Updated UI for Tor Settings, so it's a tab instead of a dialog - Make snowflake/meek/moat work in Windows and macOS - Make snowflake/meek/moat work in Linux packaging with Flatpak and Snapcraft - Keep always up-to-date list of built-in bridges - Much farther along in the quickstart screen UI - Implement methods for Censorship Circumvention API Here are the open issues we currently have for this project: https://github.com/onionshare/onionshare/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+labe…

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