February 2022 - tor-project - lists.torproject.org

Are there countries where using Tor is illegal?
by Cristian Consonni 11 May '25

11 May '25

Hi, (Sorry if this question has already been asked in the past, feel free to point me to the relevant resources.) I know that the legal FAQs by the EFF state that: «we believe that running a Tor relay — including an exit relay that allows people to anonymously send and receive traffic — is legal under U.S. law.»[1] I also know there is a list of countries for which there is legislation that exclude communication service providers from liability. They are indicated in the Legal of the Tor Exit Guidelines page[2], they are USA, Germany, Netherlands, Austria, France, and Sweden. >From some articles in the press[3a][3b] it may be illegal - depending on how you interpret the wording[*] - to use Tor (and other technologies such as VPNs or proxies) in the UAE, with fines ranging in the millions of dirhams (hundreds of thousand of dollars). A couple of weeks ago it was discussed - on this list as well - that a law was introduced to the state parliament to ban Tor[4a][4b]. This follows a case of some months ago of a Russian Tor exit node operator being arrested for inciting mass riots and terrorism[4c][4d]. The idea of blocking VPNs or Tor seems to have already been considered in the past[4e]. This infographic about pluggable transports[5] suggests access to the Tor network is censored or limited in China, Uzbekistan, Iran, and Kazakhstan. Tor being censored orblocked may be different from it being illegal. What about other countries? Is there a place where I can find more about this topic? Cristian [1]: https://www.torproject.org/eff/tor-legal-faq.html.en [2]: https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/doc/TorExitGuidelines [3a]: http://www.emirates247.com/news/emirates/dh500-000-fine-if-you-use-fraud-ip… [3b]: http://news.softpedia.com/news/people-caught-using-vpns-tor-or-proxies-in-t… [*]: «Whoever uses a fraudulent computer network protocol address (IP address) by using a false address or a third-party address by any other means for the purpose of committing a crime or preventing its discovery» [4a]: https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-talk/2017-June/043293.html [4b]: https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/22055 [4c]: https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-talk/2017-April/043109.html [4d]: https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/24/dmitry-bogatov-tor-russia/ [4e]; https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-and-tor-ban-looming-on-the-horizon-for-russia-… [5]: https://www.torproject.org/images/PT/2016-07-how-to-use-PT.png

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new BridgeDB version using rdsys
by meskio 28 Feb '22

28 Feb '22

Hello, I have just deployed a new version of BridgeDB[0]. Now BridgeDB uses rdsys[0] as backend so it has changed how bridges are managed internally, but all the user facing pieces are (almost) the same. The distributors (email, https[1] and moat) hasn't changed and should work as before. If you are a bridge user you should not see any difference. The bridges you are already using should stay working and requesting new bridges should work as before. The move to rdsys implies that all the bridges might have changed their distribution mechanism. If you are bridge operator you might see your bridge having a different distributor mechanism in the coming hours, if you had configured your bridge with the "BridgeDistribution" option your distribution mechanism should not change and stay on what you configured. There are more few more distribution mechanisms now, this is the full list: * https. The web interface of bridgedb[0]. * moat. The API used by Tor Browser to request bridges directly from the settings. * email. Bridges distributed by bridges(a)torproject.org. * telegram. Bridges that will be distributed by the telegram bot @GetBridgesBot. * settings. A new API used to autoconfigure the circumvention mechanism depending on your geolocation. * reserved. Bridges reserved for experiments or future needs. People with bridges assigned to telegram and settings will not see much usage of their bridges yet, as those are projects we are working on but will be soon in use. If you notice any problems with the bridge distribution don't hesitate to open an issue[2] or contact me. [0] https://bridges.torproject.org [1] https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/rdsys/ [2] https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/rdsys/-/issues -- meskio | https://meskio.net/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- My contact info: https://meskio.net/crypto.txt -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Nos vamos a Croatan.

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Community Team meeting notes - February 14 2022
by gus 25 Feb '22

25 Feb '22

Hi, Here's our meeting log: http://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-02-14-14.02.html And our meeting pad: ## Tor Community Team meeting pad Next meeting: Monday, February 28, 2022 - 1400 UTC Weekly meetings, every Monday at 14:00 UTC, in #tor-meeting at OFTC (channel is logged while meetings are in progress) ## Goal of this meeting Weekly checkin about the status of Community Team work at Tor. ## Links to Useful documents * Tor 0.3.5.x EOL: https://forum.torproject.net/t/tor-relays-tor-0-3-5-x-is-unsupported-please… * Monthly l10n hangout: * https://community.torproject.org/localization/hangouts/ * Known issues with Tor Browser : * https://tb-manual.torproject.org/known-issues/ and Tor Browser for Android: https://tb-manual.torproject.org/mobile-tor/#known-issues ## Discussion * Tor docs mirror * Forum tags * Disabling and archiving dead mailing lists: * https://lists.torproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tor-teachers * https://lists.torproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tor-community-team * https://lists.torproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/global-south * Outreachy/Gamification project updates ## Updates Gus: Last week: - Finished to contact all EOL relay operators (phew!) This week: - Following up and helping some EOL relay operators. - Reviewing network health fellowship with acute. - S96 meeting: - Discuss new default bridges plan: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/community/relays/-/issues/23 - S9 meeting - S30 sync meeting with Tails and The Guardian Project - Onboarding raya, our new education coordinator - S123 kick-off meeting - Run a bridge campaign: getting bridge operators contact info and sending to Erin. - Run a bridge campaign: select 10 bridge operators. Joydeep: Last week: - Tor Browser 11.0.6 support work - All articles reviewed and updated on frontdesk This week: - Tor Browser Alpha 11.5a4 testing and support work - learn more about the Discourse trust levels (part of https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/community/support/-/issues/40060) emmapeel: Last week: - Translation previews - Review locales for release - Define list of countries/regions for the tor browser - Some web fixes, especially about images in previews This week: - Bug translators to maintain already published translations - Think and add to gitlab the weblate integration - document new setup - Friday: hangout! Rhatto: Last week: - Onboarding tasks: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/community/team/-/issues/57 - Onion Services SRE kickstart meeting: https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-project/2022-February/003288.html - Wrote minimailer: https://gitlab.torproject.org/rhatto/minimailer/ - Skeleton for the Oniongroove project: https://gitlab.torproject.org/rhatto/oniongroove This week: - Remaining onboarding tasks: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/community/team/-/issues/57 - S123 kick-off meeting - Work on Oniongroove specs (hopefully) Help with: - Suggestions/advice on Onion Services deployment. Nina: Last week: - User support via RT - User suppot via Telegram - Article translation:247 "Russian: Enquiries with anything related to 'Dark Web'" This week: - User support - Translation of the article "Law enforcement requests about Onion Services" Miko: Last week: - Started working on mockups!! - Incorporated new ideas after brainstorming mockup with Gus This week: - Mockup is out (Figma link, no sign in needed) https://www.figma.com/proto/aQdKK8BdMs4NQr0ClAwy8Y/Relay-Portal-Mockup-(Cop… Next week: - Working on look and feel of the relays portal (high fidelity mockup!!) Help with: - Recruiting users for user testing low fidelity mockup -- The Tor Project Community Team Lead

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Anti-censorship team meeting notes, 2022-02-24
by meskio 24 Feb '22

24 Feb '22

Hey everyone! Here are our meeting logs: http://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-02-24-15.59.html And our meeting pad: Anti-censorship work meeting pad -------------------------------- Next meeting: Thursday February 24th 16:00 UTC Weekly meetings, every Thursday at 16:00 UTC, in #tor-meeting at OFTC (channel is logged while meetings are in progress) == Goal of this meeting == Weekly checkin about the status of anti-censorship work at Tor. Coordinate collaboration between people/teams on anti-censorship at Tor. == Links to Useful documents == Our anti-censorship roadmap: Roadmap: https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/anti-censorship/-/boards The anti-censorship team's wiki page: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/team/-/wikis/home Past meeting notes can be found at: https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-project/ Tickets that need reviews: from sponsors we are working on: All needs review tickets: https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/anti-censorship/-/merge_requests?s… Sponsor 30 https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/-/milestones/4 https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/-/milestones/7 https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/-/milestones/5 https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/-/milestones/6 Sponsor 28 must-do tickets: https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/-/milestones/10 possible tickets: https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/-/issues?scope=all&utf8=%E2%9C%93&… == Announcements == meskio plans to deploy rdsys+bridgedb next Monday, 2022-02-28. many bridges will change distribution mechanism == Discussion == obfs4 fail to connect issue https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/40804 upstream maintainer recommends getting servers to upgrade our own testing shows that new client -> new server solves the problem no reply yet to the query sent to Aaron Johnson following last week's conversation obfs4proxy is on its way to Debian testing, as soon as it hits testing we should ask acute to upload it to backports, to make it easier for server operators to upgrade the package is expected to reach testing in <10 days an upgrade of all obfs4 bridges will likely take time start with the limited goal of upgrading all Tor Browser default bridges? https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/team/-/wikis/Default-Brid… bridges currently don't report the version of the PTs they run, it would help track the progress of upgrading if they did report https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/core/tor/-/issues/11101#note_2770219 Past discussion on using the PT STATUS message for version reporting: https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-project/2021-October/003194.html http://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2021/tor-meeting.2021-09-30-16.00.log… uTLS in Snowflake Client Broker Communication we have some concerns on the uTLS fingerprints being old and "easier" to censor psiphon devs see uTLS working right for them is a client side change, we can update it quickly we don't enable uTLS by default, but make it an option from the SOCKS interface, so we can enable it by changing the bridge line from the circumvention settings == Actions == == Interesting links == https://archive.org/details/ptim2021 Pluggable Transports Implementers Meeting 2021 videos == Reading group == We will discuss "Throttling Twitter: an emerging censorship technique in Russia" on 10 March https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3487552.3487858 https://censorbib.nymity.ch/#Xue2021a Questions to ask and goals to have: What aspects of the paper are questionable? Are there immediate actions we can take based on this work? Are there long-term actions we can take based on this work? Is there future work that we want to call out, in hopes that others will pick it up? == Updates == Name: This week: - What you worked on this week. Next week: - What you are planning to work on next week. Help with: - Something you need help with. anadahz: 2022-01-27 Last week: - Increase timeout check cycles for default-bridge-felix-1 and default-bridge-felix-2 as they have been generating too many alerts: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/monit-configuration/-/mer… cecylia (cohosh): last updated 2022-02-17 Last week: - tried out snowflake experiments in shadow's preload mode - https://github.com/shadow/shadow/issues/1549 - deployed snowflake server fixes - reached out to default bridge operators - finished s28 prep and documentation - wrote some follow up code for Snowflake event channel - https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… This week: - mostly afk Needs help with: dcf: 2022-02-24 Last week: - further helped debug obfs4proxy-0.0.12 connection failures https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/40804 - investigated a snowflake bridge outage and restarted the server Next week: - post summary of 2022-02-18 snowflake bridge outage Help with: agix: 2021-02-10 Last week: - Continued work on gettor-twitter Next week: - Hopefully finish the task Help with: - arlolra: 2022-01-20 Last week: - [added 2022-01-20 by dcf] ALPN support for pion DTLS https://github.com/pion/dtls/pull/415 Next week: - Figure out where in pion/webrtc ALPN should be configured and used - Maybe add Chacha20Poly1305 to pion/dtls https://github.com/pion/dtls#planned-features https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… Help with: - maxb: 2021-09-23 Last week: - Worked on https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… re: utls for broker negotiation - Had conversation with someone about upstream utls http round tripper https://github.com/refraction-networking/utls/pull/74 - Too busy with work :/ Next week: - _Really_ want to get a PR for utls round tripper meskio: 2022-02-24 Last week: - validate opendkim headers in bridgedb (bridgedb!36) - review concurrency problems in rdsys (rdsys#90) - fix rdsys bridge status site, it was not reporting if they are working for non-vanilla bridges (rdsys#88) - handle bridgedb reconnections (bridgedb!34) - make easier to develop bridgedb with a fake rdsys (bridgedb#40034) - coordinate the deployment of rdsys + bridgedb Next week: - deploy rdsys + bridgedb in production (rdsys#12) - use rdsys bridges in circumvention settings (bridgedb#40045) Shelikhoo: 2022-02-24 Last Week: - [Merge Request Awaiting] Add SOCKS5 forward proxy support to snowflake (snowflake!64) - [Merge Request Done] Add verbosity switch to suppress diagnostic output (snowflake#40079, snowflake!74) - [Merge Request] uTLS for broker negotiation - [Discussion] Implement metrics to measure snowflake churn (snowflake#34075) - [Discussion] Proposal: Support for Dynamic IP obfs4 bridges with unattended proxy information update (aka "Subscription") - [Discussion] Proposal: Push Notification Based Signaling Channel - [Discussion] Proposal: Centralized Probe Result Collector (anti-censorship/team#54) - [Discussion] HTTPT & Websocket (https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/http…) - [Investigate] Is there a better moat/snowflake SNI than cdn.sstatic.net? (snowflake#40068) - [Investigate] Multi-instance Load Balanced Tor - Snowflake Deployment - [Investigate] China "Anti-Fraud" Webpage Redirection Censorship (censorship-analysis#40026) - [Investigate] S96 Bridge Performance Next Week: - [Discussion] Implement metrics to measure snowflake churn (snowflake#34075) - [Discussion] Proposal: Push Notification Based Signaling Channel - [Coding] Proposal: Centralized Probe Result Collector (anti-censorship/team#54) HackerNCoder: 2021-12-16 This week: Last/done: Setup web mirror on tor.encryptionin.space Next: Get (new VPs with) new IP and setup new web mirror on new domain hanneloresx: 2021-3-4 Last week: - Submitted MR for bridgestrap issue #14 Next week: - Finish bridgestrap #14 - Find new issue to work on Help with: - -- meskio | https://meskio.net/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- My contact info: https://meskio.net/crypto.txt -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Nos vamos a Croatan.

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Network Team - Upcoming tor.git 0.4.7.4-alpha release - February 2022
by David Goulet 23 Feb '22

23 Feb '22

Greetings, Network team will be releasing on Friday a new alpha (0.4.7.4-alpha) but this one is very special, it is the first alpha with the gigantic congestion control work in it. https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/core/tor/-/issues/40405 https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/core/torspec/-/blob/main/proposals/324-rt… There are also couple important fixes for relay operators running alphas and so we will recommend to upgrade. With this alpha, we hope to get to a release candidate very soon and then onto the long awaited 0.4.7 stable in around 2-3 months. Upcoming versions: - 0.4.7.4-alpha @network-team: It is _now_ a good time to start reviewing changes/ files: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/core/tor/-/tree/main/changes Last, we've asked the dirauth to recommend these versions few minutes ago. Cheers! David -- hn/Y6tIdc7o83Kubm4tb7kwGg3cVfoop1AQ3QAX8UkA=

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DEMO DAY at the end of March? Please send us your proposal
by Gaba 22 Feb '22

22 Feb '22

Hi! We are going to have our next demo day at the end of March! Please submit your proposals to https://nc.torproject.net/apps/forms/MT5NTyWnGwDsJ4r8 Tor Demo Day - March 23rd 2022 ============================== What is a Demo Day? ------------------- An hour long session at an all hands meeting where different people present 5 minutes ideas, tools, hacking or anything that they think it may be interesting for the Tor community. How? ---- - We call for presenters a month before the demo day. - The agenda will be set before the meeting and will be shared with tor-project. - We want 5 to 8 minutes length presentations. We will handle questions at the end of all presentations. - Slides are allowed, but not mandatory. You may share your screen or a pre-recorded video if that makes you less anxious. - We like the adrenaline of the live presentations, but if they wish, presenters can share pre-recorded videos with us. They should be sent a few hours in advance and will be lined up and shared with assistants during the session. - This is a place where people should feel safe to engage, share their point of view, and participate. Read our Code of Conduct: https://gitweb.torproject.org/community/policies.git/tree/code_of_conduct.t… Who? ---- - Anyone who wants to share what they have been hacking on. It doesn't need to be a finished feature but a work in progress. It can be small like a Tor Browser feature or something you have been hacking around Tor not officially. - Presenters have 5 to 8 minutes. People can ask questions via text in the pad for 3 minutes. Where? ------ The link to a room in our BBB instance will be sent a few hours before starting the demo day. When ---- Wednesday March 23rd at 1600 UTC Agenda ------------------------------ - 5 min for the presentation - 3 min for questions ------------------------------ Questions will be written in text on the pad in any time during the presentation. Presenters will answer them in audio. -- pronouns she/her/they GPG Fingerprint EE3F DF5C AD91 643C 21BE 8370 180D B06C 59CA BD19

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UX team monthly meeting notes, Feb 22nd
by Duncan Russell 22 Feb '22

22 Feb '22

Hello, Thanks to everyone who made it to today's UX Team meeting! We’re looking forward to seeing you all again in a week’s time on March 1st. Here are the minutes: http://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-02- <http://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-02-22-17.00.log…>22-17.00 <http://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-02-22-17.00.log…>.log.html <http://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-02-22-17.00.log…> Today we shared an update on our progress with various projects across the team, chatted about stickers, discussed the addition of a “Research” tag to the forum for future user surveys, and considered the potential impact pasting large numbers of bridge lines has on Tor’s bootstrapping speed. == User Experience Team Meeting == UX Team meetings happen every Tuesday at 1700 UTC in #tor-meeting on OFTC. Here are the logs from our last meeting on February 22nd: http://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-02- <http://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-02-22-17.00.log…>22-17.00 <http://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-02-22-17.00.log…>.log.html <http://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-02-22-17.00.log…> == Useful links == About the UX Team: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/ux/team <https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/ux/team> UX repository: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/ux <https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/ux> UX roadmap: 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&…> Team kanban: https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/-/boards?scope=all&label_name[]=UX… <https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/-/boards?scope=all&label_name[]=UX…> -------------------------- Tuesday February 22nd 17:00 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&…> 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&…> 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 Alpha 11.5a4 release (desktop only): https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-115a4/ <https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-115a4/> == Agenda == 1. Announcements 2. Weekly planning 3. Check-in with user support == Weekly planning == Note: Please highlight anything you'd like to discuss below in **bold** Duncan Last week (actual): - Dev support for S96 (torconnect) - Discussed process for selecting alpha features to go into stable for Tor Browser - Reviewed & fed back on the call for participation for S101 (VPN) - Finished the tor-qa survey - Quarterly meetings with sponsors - afk on Friday This week (planned): - afk on Monday - Test and feed back on the most recent build for S96 (torconnect) - Start work on additional designs for S96 (torconnect) - Launch & distribute the tor-qa survey - Chase feedback for user stories for S101 (VPN) - Continue breadboards for S101 (VPN) - More quarterly meetings with sponsors On ice: - Review everything currently assigned to me under "Needs Review", including the UX Research report template Nah Last week (actual): - S9 survey to find human rights defenders’ challenges and needs. Status: creating questionnaire on limesurvey in spanish and english, trying to make it look better, sharing with S9 partners. * https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/ux/research/-/issues/72 <https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/ux/research/-/issues/72> * Study and summarize our User Research material to create a primer to share with S9 partners: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/ux/research/-/issues/61 <https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/ux/research/-/issues/61> - S30 call for participation is live! Sharing with communities in Brazil and Mexico, and planning User Research (both for Tor and Orbot) * https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/ux/research/-/issues/71 <https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/ux/research/-/issues/71> - S101 interviews planning. Status: creating the questionnaire on Limesurvey. * https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/ux/research/-/issues/70 <https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/ux/research/-/issues/70> - S96: starting to research/plan our next activities This week (planned): - Recruit more participants for VPN interviews (S101) - Plan and test a card sorting structure for VPN features survey (S101) - Work on the User Research primer - Meet and discuss User Reserch activities for the upcoming digital autodefense cicle of activities (S30) Nicob Last week (actual): - Further exploration of icon concepting - NYT new member renewal graphic - Onion sticker re-design sketching - Edits to partner logos for trainings page (Gus) - SVG icon test for localization (Emmapeel) - Started gathering similar org annual reports for research/inspiration This week (planned): - continued sketching/exploration of glyphs - continue research for Comms 22 vis direction == 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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Anti-censorship team meeting notes, 2022-02-17
by meskio 17 Feb '22

17 Feb '22

Hey everyone! Here are our meeting logs: ttp://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-02-17-15.59.html And our meeting pad: Anti-censorship work meeting pad -------------------------------- Next meeting: Thursday February 17th 16:00 UTC Weekly meetings, every Thursday at 16:00 UTC, in #tor-meeting at OFTC (channel is logged while meetings are in progress) == Goal of this meeting == Weekly checkin about the status of anti-censorship work at Tor. Coordinate collaboration between people/teams on anti-censorship at Tor. == Links to Useful documents == Our anti-censorship roadmap: Roadmap: https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/anti-censorship/-/boards The anti-censorship team's wiki page: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/team/-/wikis/home Past meeting notes can be found at: https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-project/ Tickets that need reviews: from sponsors we are working on: All needs review tickets: https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/anti-censorship/-/merge_requests?s… Sponsor 30 https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/-/milestones/4 https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/-/milestones/7 https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/-/milestones/5 https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/-/milestones/6 Sponsor 28 must-do tickets: https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/-/milestones/10 possible tickets: https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/-/issues?scope=all&utf8=%E2%9C%93&… == Announcements == == Discussion == obfs4proxy-0.0.12 causing connection failure warnings, before eventually succeeding https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/40804 It looks like an obfs4proxy-0.0.12 client connecting to a pre-0.0.12 server fails to connect some fixed fraction of the time, requiring multiple connection attempts before finally succeeding The Elligator2 fix in obfs4proxy-0.0.12 is documented to be backward compatible, but perhaps it is not fully https://gitlab.com/yawning/obfs4/-/blob/77af0cba934d73c4baeb709560bcfc9a9fb… "Representatives created by this implementation will correctly be decoded by existing implementations." "As the representative to public key transform should be identical, this change is fully-backward compatible" It could be that something about the altered (fixed) mathematical transform of Elligator2 is responsible for the handshake failures. Posts about Elligator2 and the cofactor distinguishability bug: https://loup-vaillant.fr/articles/implementing-elligator https://loup-vaillant.fr/tutorials/cofactor https://www.reddit.com/r/crypto/comments/fd9t3m/elligator_with_x25519_is_br… Aaron Johnson has looked into it, and says (according to immediate memory) that the Elligator2-encoded public keys of past versions of obfs4proxy are distinguishable from random in 7/8 cases. When both side have not upgraded, it is 63/64 cases. Or something along those lines. Roger will put us in touch with Aaron to understand the encoding bug and whether it could be leading to the connection failures. Shall we roll back the obfs4proxy version in Tor Browser until we figure it out? It seems to be a small number of users who are bothered enough by the log messages to post on #40804 and on the forum https://forum.torproject.net/t/bridges-work-but-with-error-messages-in-log-… No rollback for now. We need to test a 0.0.12-to-0.0.12 connection, to see whether upgrading the server solves the connection failures. If it does, then (separately from fixing the problem in the client) we can push for server operators to upgrade. obfs4proxy-0.0.13 is already in Debian sid, it will take some time to work its way into testing and backports A non-upgraded server is detectable (with 7/8 probability) at the client. We could have the client log a message when that occurs, so the user can choose to use a different bridge, or encourage the bridge operator to upgrade. Tails's test suite caught the connection errors: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/40804#n… uTLS for broker negotiation. Should we enable by default? the fingerprints in uTLS are pretty old, is it better to use them than go TLS? we are reachinging out to psiphon to see what they thing about uTLS maintenance V2 uses a "bring your own browser" model: the proxy forwards through a browser installed on the system to get a good TLS fingerprint. meek in Tor Browser used to do something similar, using the Firefox that is part of the bundle. Later meek got support for uTLS: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/meek… obfs4proxy's meek_lite implementation also got uTLS support, and the Tor Browser maintainers decided to switch to that (from mainline meek with browser forwarding) so that there would be only one binary to ship: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/29430 == Actions == == Interesting links == == Reading group == We will discuss "Weaponizing Middleboxes for TCP Reflected Amplification" on 2022-02-17 https://censorbib.nymity.ch/#Bock2021b Questions to ask and goals to have: What aspects of the paper are questionable? Are there immediate actions we can take based on this work? Are there long-term actions we can take based on this work? Is there future work that we want to call out, in hopes that others will pick it up? == Updates == Name: This week: - What you worked on this week. Next week: - What you are planning to work on next week. Help with: - Something you need help with. anadahz: 2022-01-27 Last week: - Increase timeout check cycles for default-bridge-felix-1 and default-bridge-felix-2 as they have been generating too many alerts: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/monit-configuration/-/mer… cecylia (cohosh): last updated 2022-02-17 Last week: - tried out snowflake experiments in shadow's preload mode - https://github.com/shadow/shadow/issues/1549 - deployed snowflake server fixes - reached out to default bridge operators - finished s28 prep and documentation - wrote some follow up code for Snowflake event channel - https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… This week: - mostly afk Needs help with: dcf: 2022-02-17 Last week: - opened issues for some default obfs4 bridges being offline (smallerRichard) https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/team/-/issues/44#note_277… (KauBridge{Pale,Blue,Dot}) https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/team/-/issues/64 - investigated "general SOCKS server failure" errors from obfs4proxy-0.0.12 https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/40804#n… - did some review of uTLS for snowflake-client https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… - posted snowflake bridge VPS cost estimates https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/anti-censorship-team/2022-February/0… Next week: Help with: agix: 2021-02-10 Last week: - Continued work on gettor-twitter Next week: - Hopefully finish the task Help with: - arlolra: 2022-01-20 Last week: - [added 2022-01-20 by dcf] ALPN support for pion DTLS https://github.com/pion/dtls/pull/415 Next week: - Figure out where in pion/webrtc ALPN should be configured and used - Maybe add Chacha20Poly1305 to pion/dtls https://github.com/pion/dtls#planned-features https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… Help with: - maxb: 2021-09-23 Last week: - Worked on https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… re: utls for broker negotiation - Had conversation with someone about upstream utls http round tripper https://github.com/refraction-networking/utls/pull/74 - Too busy with work :/ Next week: - _Really_ want to get a PR for utls round tripper meskio: 2022-02-17 Last week: - make easier to test bridgedb after rdsys change (bridgedb#40034) - bridgedb reconnection issues with rdsys (bridgedb!34) - bridgestrap is not displaying the results (bridgestrap#31) - staging bridgedb configuration (bridgedb-admin!4) - remove bridgedb blockade to distribute bridges in certain contries (rdsys#89) - review snowflake uTLS roundtripper (snowflake!76) Next week: - circumvention settings fallback (bridgedb#40045) Shelikhoo: 2022-02-17 Last Week: - [Merge Request Awaiting] Add SOCKS5 forward proxy support to snowflake (snowflake!64) - [Merge Request Done] Add verbosity switch to suppress diagnostic output (snowflake#40079, snowflake!74) - [Merge Request] uTLS for broker negotiation - [Discussion] Implement metrics to measure snowflake churn (snowflake#34075) - [Discussion] Proposal: Support for Dynamic IP obfs4 bridges with unattended proxy information update (aka "Subscription") - [Discussion] Proposal: Push Notification Based Signaling Channel - [Discussion] Proposal: Centralized Probe Result Collector (anti-censorship/team#54) - [Discussion] HTTPT & Websocket (https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/http…) - [Investigate] Is there a better moat/snowflake SNI than cdn.sstatic.net? (snowflake#40068) - [Investigate] Multi-instance Load Balanced Tor - Snowflake Deployment - [Investigate] China "Anti-Fraud" Webpage Redirection Censorship (censorship-analysis#40026) - [Investigate] S96 Bridge Performance Next Week: - [Discussion] Implement metrics to measure snowflake churn (snowflake#34075) - [Discussion] Proposal: Push Notification Based Signaling Channel - [Coding] uTLS for broker negotiation - [Coding] Proposal: Centralized Probe Result Collector (anti-censorship/team#54) HackerNCoder: 2021-12-16 This week: Last/done: Setup web mirror on tor.encryptionin.space Next: Get (new VPs with) new IP and setup new web mirror on new domain hanneloresx: 2021-3-4 Last week: - Submitted MR for bridgestrap issue #14 Next week: - Finish bridgestrap #14 - Find new issue to work on Help with: - -- meskio | https://meskio.net/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- My contact info: https://meskio.net/crypto.txt -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Nos vamos a Croatan.

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Tor Browser meeting moved to 2022-02-23
by Richard Pospesel 16 Feb '22

16 Feb '22

Hey Everyone, The Tor Browser meeting for (only) next week is moved to Tuesday (2022-02-22) at the usual time (1500UTC) in #tor-meeting in the usual place (#tor-meeting on OFTC). We will resume the following week on the usual day (Mondays). Meeting pad: https://pad.riseup.net/p/tor-tbb-keep best, -Richard

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UX team meeting notes, February 15th
by Duncan Russell 15 Feb '22

15 Feb '22

Hello, Thanks to everyone who made it to today's UX Team meeting! We’re looking forward to seeing you all again in a week’s time on February 22nd. Here are the minutes: http://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-02-08-16.59.log… <http://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-02-08-16.59.log…> Today we shared an update on our progress with the research and specification of the Tor VPN Client for Android (Sponsor 101), briefly discussed the UX Team roadmap for Q1, and reviewed Joydeep's user support report for January. *** == User Experience Team Meeting == UX Team meetings happen every Tuesday at 1700 UTC in #tor-meeting on OFTC. Here are the logs from our last meeting on February 15th: http://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-02- <http://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-02-15-16.59.log…>15 <http://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-02-15-16.59.log…>-16.59.log.html <http://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-02-15-16.59.log…> == Useful links == About the UX Team: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/ux/team <https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/ux/team> UX repository: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/ux <https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/ux> UX roadmap: 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&…> Team kanban: https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/-/boards?scope=all&label_name[]=UX… <https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/-/boards?scope=all&label_name[]=UX…> -------------------------- Tuesday February 15th 17:00 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&…> 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&…> 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 11.0.6 release: https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-1106/ <https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-1106/> == Agenda == 1. Announcements 2. Weekly planning 3. Check-in with user support == Weekly planning == Note: Please highlight anything you'd like to discuss below in **bold** Duncan Last week (actual): - Updated the UX Team roadmap and presented it at last week's All Hands - Presented Objective 1 (UX) progress for S101 (VPN) at the all-team meeting - Got the UX evaluation of comparable Android apps and user stories into a reviewable state for S101, and emailed round the VPN group for feedback This week (planned): - Catch up on S96 (torconnect) - Start work on additional designs for S96 (torconnect) - Finish and distribute the tor-qa survey - Continue breadboards for S101 (VPN) - Respond to feedback and questions about user stories for S101 (VPN) as it comes in - Discuss process for selecting alpha features to go into stable for Tor Browser - Quarterly meetings with sponsors On ice: - Review everything currently assigned to me under "Needs Review", including the UX Research report template Nicob Last week (actual): - sketching glyph exploration - illustration for VPN/call for participation - developed graphic for upcoming subgrantee blog post This week (planned): - continued sketching/exploration of glyphs - graphic to thank member renewels - NYT - start exploring mono onion sticker for print - continue research for Comms 22 vis direction == 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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