May 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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TPA-RFC-20: bullseye upgrade schedule
by Antoine Beaupré 23 Jun '22

23 Jun '22

Note: this proposal is also visible in: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/tpa/team/-/wikis/policy/tpa-rfc-20-bullse… Summary: bullseye upgrades will roll out starting the first weeks of April and May, and should complete before the end of August 2022. Let us know if your service requires special handling. # Background Debian 11 [bullseye][] was [released on August 14 2021][]). Tor started the upgrade to bullseye shortly after and hopes to complete the process before the [buster][] EOL, [one year after the stable release][], so normally around August 2022. In other words, we have until this summer to upgrade *all* of TPA's machine to the new release. New machines that were setup recently have already been installed in bullseye, as the installers were changed shortly after the release. A few machines were upgraded manually without any ill effects and we do not consider this upgrade to be risky or dangerous, in general. This work is part of the [%Debian 11 bullseye upgrade milestone][], itself part of the [OKR 2022 Q1/Q2 plan][]. # Proposal The proposal, broadly speaking, is to upgrade all servers in three batches. The first two are somewhat equally sized and spread over April and May, and the rest will happen at some time that will be announced later, individually, per server. ## Affected users All service admins are affected by this change. If you have shell access on any TPA server, you want to read this announcement. ## Upgrade schedule The upgrade is split in multiple batches: * low complexity (mostly TPA): April * moderate complexity (service admins): May * high complexity (hard stuff): to be announced separately * to be retired or rebuilt servers: not upgraded * already completed upgrades The free time between the first two will also allow us to cover for unplanned contingencies: upgrades that could drag on and other work that will inevitably need to be performed. The objective is to do the batches in collective "upgrade parties" that should be "fun" for the team (and work parties *have* generally been generally fun in the past). ### Low complexity, batch 1: April A first batch of servers will be upgraded in the first week of April. Those machines are considered to be somewhat trivial to upgrade as they are mostly managed by TPA or that we evaluate that the upgrade will have minimal impact on the service's users. ``` archive-01 build-x86-05 build-x86-06 chi-node-12 chi-node-13 chives ci-runner-01 ci-runner-arm64-02 dangerzone-01 hetzner-hel1-02 hetzner-hel1-03 hetzner-nbg1-01 hetzner-nbg1-02 loghost01 media-01 metrics-store-01 perdulce static-master-fsn submit-01 tb-build-01 tb-build-03 tb-tester-01 tbb-nightlies-master web-chi-03 web-cymru-01 web-fsn-01 web-fsn-02 ``` 27 machines. At a worst case 45 minutes per machine, that is 20 hours of work. At three people, this might be doable in a day. Feedback and coordination of this batch happens in issue [tpo/tpa/team#40690][]. ### Moderate complexity, batch 2: May The second batch of "moderate complexity servers" happens in the first week of May. The main difference with the first batch is that the second batch regroups services mostly managed by service admins, who are given a longer heads up before the upgrades are done. ``` bacula-director-01 bungei carinatum check-01 crm-ext-01 crm-int-01 fallax gettor-01 gitlab-02 henryi majus mandos-01 materculae meronense neriniflorum nevii onionbalance-01 onionbalance-02 onionoo-backend-01 onionoo-backend-02 onionoo-frontend-01 onionoo-frontend-02 polyanthum rude staticiforme subnotabile ``` 26 machines. If the worst case scenario holds, this is another day of work, at three people. Not mentioned here is the `gnt-fsn` Ganeti cluster upgrade, which is covered by ticket [tpo/tpa/team#40689][]. That alone could be a few day-person of work. Feedback and coordination of this batch happens in issue [tpo/tpa/team#40692][] ### High complexity, individually done Those machines are harder to upgrade, due to some major upgrades of their core components, and will require individual attention, if not major work to upgrade. ``` alberti eugeni hetzner-hel1-01 pauli ``` Each machine could take a week or two to upgrade, depending on the situation and severity. To detail each server: * `alberti`: `userdir-ldap` is, in general, risky and needs special attention, but should be moderately safe to upgrade, see ticket [tpo/tpa/team#40693][] * `eugeni`: messy server, with lots of moving parts (e.g. Schleuder, Mailman), Mailman 2 EOL, needs to decide whether to migrate to Mailman 3 or replace with Discourse (and self-host), see [tpo/tpa/team#40471][], followup in [tpo/tpa/team#40694][] * `hetzner-hel1-01`: Nagios AKA Icinga 1 is end-of-life and needs to be migrated to Icinga 2, which involves fixing our git hooks to generate Icinga 2 configuration (unlikely), or rebuilding a Icinga 2 server, or replacing with Prometheus (see [tpo/tpa/team#29864][]), followup in [tpo/tpa/team#40695][] * `pauli`: Puppet packages are severely out of date in Debian, and Puppet 5 is EOL (with Puppet 6 soon to be). doesn't necessarily block the upgrade, but we should deal with this problem sooner than later, see [tpo/tpa/team#33588][], followup in [tpo/tpa/team#40696][] All of those require individual decision and design, and specific announcements will be made for upgrades once a decision has been made for each service. ### To retire Those servers are possibly scheduled for removal and may not be upgraded to bullseye at all. If we miss the summer deadline, they might be upgraded as a last resort. ``` cupani gayi moly peninsulare vineale ``` Specifically: * cupani/vineale is covered by [tpo/tpa/team#40472][] * gayi is [TPA-RFC-11: SVN retirement][], [tpo/tpa/team#17202][] * moly/peninsulare is [tpo/tpa/team#29974][] ### To rebuild Those machines are planned to be rebuilt and should therefore not be upgraded either: ``` cdn-backend-sunet-01 colchicifolium corsicum nutans ``` Some of those machines are hosted at a Sunet and need to be migrated elsewhere, see [tpo/tpa/team#40684][] for details. `colchicifolium` will is planned to be rebuilt in the `gnt-chi` cluster, no ticket created yet. They will be rebuilt in new bullseye machines which should allow for a safer transition that shouldn't require specific coordination or planning. ### Completed upgrades Those machines have already been upgraded to (or installed as) Debian 11 bullseye: ``` btcpayserver-02 chi-node-01 chi-node-02 chi-node-03 chi-node-04 chi-node-05 chi-node-06 chi-node-07 chi-node-08 chi-node-09 chi-node-10 chi-node-11 chi-node-14 ci-runner-x86-05 palmeri relay-01 static-gitlab-shim tb-pkgstage-01 ``` ### Other related work There is other work related to the bullseye upgrade that is mentioned in the [%Debian 11 bullseye upgrade milestone][]. # Alternatives considered We have not set aside time to automate the upgrade procedure any further at this stage, as this is considered to be a too risky development project, and the current procedure is fast enough for now. We could also move to the cloud, Kubernetes, serverless, and Ethereum and pretend none of those things exist, but so far we stay in the real world of operating systems. Also note that this doesn't cover Docker container images upgrades. Each team is responsible for upgrading their image tags in GitLab CI appropriately and is *strongly* encouraged to keep a close eye on those in general. We may eventually consider enforcing stricter control over container images if this proves to be too chaotic to self-manage. # Costs It is estimates this will take one or two person-month to complete, full time. # Approvals required This proposal needs approval from TPA team members, but service admins can request additional delay if they are worried about their service being affected by the upgrade. Comments or feedback can be provided in issues linked above. # Deadline Upgrades will start in the first week of April 2022 (2022-04-04) unless an objection is raised. This proposal will be considered adopted by then unless an objection is raised within TPA. # Status This proposal is currently in the `proposed` state. # References * [TPA bullseye upgrade procedure][] * [%Debian 11 bullseye upgrade milestone][] [TPA bullseye upgrade procedure]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/tpa/team/-/wikis/howto/upgrades/bullseye/ [%Debian 11 bullseye upgrade milestone]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/tpa/-/milestones/5 [bullseye]: https://wiki.debian.org/DebianBullseye [released on August 14 2021]: https://www.debian.org/News/2021/20210814 [buster]: howto/upgrades/buster [one year after the stable release]: https://www.debian.org/security/faq#lifespan [OKR 2022 Q1/Q2 plan]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/tpa/team/-/wikis/roadmap/2022 [tpo/tpa/team#40690]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/tpa/team/-/issues/40690 [tpo/tpa/team#40692]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/tpa/team/-/issues/40692 [tpo/tpa/team#40693]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/tpa/team/-/issues/40693 [tpo/tpa/team#40471]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/tpa/team/-/issues/40471 [tpo/tpa/team#29864]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/tpa/team/-/issues/29864 [tpo/tpa/team#33588]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/tpa/team/-/issues/33588 [tpo/tpa/team#40684]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/tpa/team/-/issues/40684 [tpo/tpa/team#40694]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/tpa/team/-/issues/40694 [tpo/tpa/team#40695]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/tpa/team/-/issues/40695 [tpo/tpa/team#40696]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/tpa/team/-/issues/40696 [tpo/tpa/team#40472]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/tpa/team/-/issues/40472 [tpo/tpa/team#17202]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/tpa/team/-/issues/17202 [TPA-RFC-11: SVN retirement]: policy/tpa-rfc-11-svn-retirement [tpo/tpa/team#29974]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/tpa/team/-/issues/29974 [tpo/tpa/team#40689]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/tpa/team/-/issues/40689 -- Antoine Beaupré torproject.org system administration

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UX team meeting notes, May 24th
by Duncan Russell 31 May '22

31 May '22

Hello, Thanks to everyone who made it to last week's UX Team meeting. We’re looking forward to seeing you all again later today. Here are the minutes: http <https://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-05-24-15.59.lo…>s://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-05-24 <https://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-05-24-15.59.lo…>-15 <https://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-05-24-15.59.lo…>.59.log.html <https://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-05-24-15.59.lo…> Last week we shared an update on key projects across the team, and discussed the new anti-censorship user flows planned for Tor Browser 11.5. *** == User Experience Team Meeting == UX Team meetings happen every Tuesday at 1600 UTC in #tor-meeting on OFTC. Here are the logs from our meeting on May 24th: http <https://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-05-24-15.59.lo…>s://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-05-24 <https://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-05-24-15.59.lo…>-15 <https://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-05-24-15.59.lo…>.59.log.html <https://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-05-24-15.59.lo…> == 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…> == Meetbot commands == - #startmeeting UX Team Weekly Meeting - #endmeeting --------------------------- Tuesday May 24th @ 16:00 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> S123 – Tor Secure Access Package for USAGM https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/-/milestones/34 <https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/-/milestones/34> == Announcements == New Alpha Release: Tor Browser 11.5a11 (Desktop) https://blog.torproject.org/ <https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-115a11/>new-release-tor-browser-115a11 <https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-115a11/>/ <https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-115a11/> New Release: Tor Browser 11.0.13 (Desktop & Android) https://blog.torproject.org/ <https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-11013/>new-release-tor-browser-11 <https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-11013/>01 <https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-11013/>3 <https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-11013/>/ <https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-11013/> == Agenda == Evergreen items: 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/donuts Last week (actual): - Caught up on email backlog - Reviewed the latest challenges and needs report in ux/research#25 - Reviewed the interview script feeback for S101 - Reviewed the Annual Report in operations/communications#52 This week (planned): - Design mockup for the bundled tb-manual in applications/tor-browser#40885 - Design QA for TB 11.5a11 in applications/tor-browser#40911 - Write blog post to support the Community QA recruitment campaign in operations/communications#65 - Reivew Joydeep's notes for tb-manual updates - Present Connection Assist at the East Africa meetup - Attend the VPN Unconference Backlog/time permitting: - Start thinking about social previews/teasers for Tor Browser 11.5 - Begin wireframes for the Tor VPN in ux/design#35 Nah Last week (actual): - updated and published s9 report - analysed VPN possible interviews (review survey results and interview script) - participated in the Ooni training with Derechos Digitales - started collecting feedback on localized material (s9) - started s96 research plan - reaching out to possible interviewees for the vpn research This week (planned): - call with east africa organization (possible training and collecting feedback mid-June) - east africa meetup on thursday - reaching out to possible testers for s96 - reaching out more possible interviewees for the vpn research - past fellowship work a couple of times this week! Nicob Last week (actual): - Annual report: illustrations/graphics, submitted draft to the team for review, incorporating edits based on feedback, began concepting work for cover page - USAGM: continued QA work with Kez on responsive for LTR and RTL - Began wireframes for redesign of tor download page, met with Duncan for first review/feedback session: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/web/tpo/-/issues/248 <https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/web/tpo/-/issues/248> - GSoC graphic for comms This week (planned): - Annual report: Incorporate any more edits/feedback there may be, finish cover page - S9: Incorporate feedback into wireframes for Tor download page - Create social graphic for congestion control social post - Start work on updating figjam file for org chart Joydeep Check-in with user support: - working on Tor Browser User Manual updates wrt 11.5 release (https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/web/manual/-/issues/119 <https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/web/manual/-/issues/119>) - pad: https://pad.riseup.net/p/tb-11-5-updates <https://pad.riseup.net/p/tb-11-5-updates> (feedback welcome!) - What are all the user workflows wrt the new Connection Assist in TB 11.5? == 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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Tor Browser Meeting moved to 2022-05-31
by Richard Pospesel 29 May '22

29 May '22

Hi Everyone, Tomorrow is a holiday, so we'll be moving the Tor Browser meeting to Tuesday (2022-05-31) at 1500 UTC in #tor-meeting on OFTC IRC. best, -Richard

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Anti-censorship team meeting notes, 2022-05-26
by Shelikhoo 26 May '22

26 May '22

Hey everyone! Here are our meeting logs: http://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-05-26-16.00.html And our meeting pad: Anti-censorship work meeting pad -------------------------------- Next meeting: Thursday June 3rd 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 check-in 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 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&… * Sponsor 96 * https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/-/milestones/24 == Announcements == * anti-censorship irc channel: #tor-anticensorship @ irc.oftc.net == Discussion == * enforce 2FA in gitlab commit access accounts? * yes, let's do that * meskio will contact the people that doesn't have 2FA to see if they can get it set up * go 1.18 & snowflake * CI will be updated to cover go 1.18 * https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser-build/-/issues/4… == Actions == * Send a WireGuard public key to dcf if you want shell access to the snowflake-02 bridge * https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… * https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/team/-/wikis/Survival-Gui… == Interesting links == == Reading group == * We will discuss "" on * * 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. cecylia (cohosh): last updated 2022-05-26 Last week: - bumped version of pion/webrtc and pion/dtls in snowflake and tor browser - https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… - https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser-build/-/merge_re… - updated changelog for snowflake library v2.2.0 - https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… - worked a bit on snowflake paper - helped itchy with #40142 This week: - continued work on conjure PT - continue snowflake maintenance tasks Needs help with: dcf: 2022-05-25 (will miss 2022-05-26 meeting) Last week: - sent follow-up to stunprotocol.org mailing list to see if resolving to localhost in RU and UA is expected https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/stunprotocol/20220519170106.tz2ylxws6ygfj… - set up WireGuard access control for snowflake-02 bridge site https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… Next week: - look at STATUS VERSION proposal https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/core/torspec/-/merge_requests/63 - make user accounts for snowflake-02 bridge site Help with: meskio: 2022-05-26 Last week: - distributor retries to rdsys backend (rdsys#99) - String method to snowflake events (snowflake!89) - run bridgestrap tests in the CI (bridgestrap#35) - fix problems with bridgestrap after bullseye upgrade (bridgestrap#34) - upload docker images for the new version of snowflake-proxy - update debian package for snowflake (snowflake#40143) Next week: - start working on gettor (rdsys#105) - use systemd to run bridgedb (team#72) - update debian package for snowflake (snowflake#40143) Shelikhoo: 2022-05-26 Last Week: - [Merge Request] Add Distributed Snowflake Server Support (snowflake!87) - [Merge Request] Distributed Snowflake Bridges (Javascript ver.) (snowflake-webext!29) - [Merge Request Awaiting] Add SOCKS5 forward proxy support to snowflake (snowflake!64) - [Research & Coding] WebSocket + CDN Based Probe Control Connection Forwarder (shelikhoo/LogCollectorAncillary#3) - [Coding & Deployment] Proposal: Centralized Probe Result Collector (anti-censorship/team#54) - [Discussion & Deployment] Migrating Controlling git repo to Tor Gitlab Instance (shelikhoo/LogCollectorAncillary#5) <- awaiting/blocked Next Week: - [Coding] Distributed Snowflake Bridges (continue) - [Coding & Deployment] Proposal: Centralized Probe Result Collector (anti-censorship/team#54) - [Research & Coding] WebSocket + CDN Based Probe Control Connection Forwarder (shelikhoo/LogCollectorAncillary#3) - [Research & Coding] Implement metrics to measure snowflake churn (https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow…) Itchy Onion: 2022-05-26 Last week: - work on the snowflake issues assigned to me (!84, !88) - review MRs assigned to me This week: - work on s28 issue 81 (broker crashes under load) arlolra: 2022-04-07 Last week: - Merged the rest of snowflake !81 Next week: - Get to snowflake-webext #10 Evergreen: - 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: - 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… 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 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

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Debian bullseye upgrade of GitLab server expected to cause outages
by Antoine Beaupré 25 May '22

25 May '22

The main GitLab server (`gitlab-02`) will be upgraded on Monday (2022-05-30) at 1700UTC. That is equivalent to 10:00 US/Pacific, 14:00 America/Montevideo, 13:00 US/Eastern, 17:00 UTC, 19:00 Europe/Paris, 2022-05-31 (next day) 05:00 Pacific/Auckland. The upgrade should take about two hours but could extend further during the day if regressions are found. GitLab will be partially unavailable during that time: it may be on and off for extended periods of time and it's better to assume it will be completely unavailable for the day. This is part of the planned Debian bullseye upgrade announced in [TPA-RFC-20][]. The GitLab server is part of the [second batch][] of servers being upgraded. [TPA-RFC-20]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/tpa/team/-/issues/40662 The date was chosen because it is a holiday in the USA and the time was chosen to be near the end of the day in Europe, to minimise the impact on everyone. Feel free to inspect the [upgrade procedure][] for more details. As a special precaution for this server, a full backup will be taken before the upgrade, and filesystem snapshots will be tested to see if they can be used as a recovery. [upgrade procedure]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/tpa/team/-/wikis/howto/upgrades/bullseye/ Therefore, it is preferable to minimise the use of the server during the day, even if it is available, because it's possible we will have to restore everything from backups, which could wipe data. A warning will be posted on the site during the procedure to warn about this eventuality. This operation will be led by TPA, and feedback is welcome in the [second batch][] ticket. [second batch]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/tpa/team/-/issues/40692 -- Antoine Beaupré torproject.org system administration

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Anti-censorship team meeting notes, 2022-5-19
by meskio 19 May '22

19 May '22

Hey everyone! Here are our meeting logs: http://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-05-19-15.59.html And our meeting pad: Anti-censorship work meeting pad -------------------------------- Next meeting: Thursday May 26th 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 check-in 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 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&… * Sponsor 96 * https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/-/milestones/24 == Announcements == == Discussion == * Snowflake doesn't work in Russia (connection failure by timeout) * https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/censorship-analysis/-/iss… * https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… * https://ntc.party/t/a-new-snowflake-blocking-rule-offset-of-supported-group… * the new reported blocking rule, with a different offset to supported_groups than what we diagnosed in December 2021 (https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow…) is real * however Snowflake still works in Russia, apparently * Is there a tool to do automated bisection of packet contents and discover such blocking rules? * OONI once had a module called daphn3 * https://github.com/OpenObservatory/ooniprobe-debian/blob/master/ooni/kit/da… * https://speakerdeck.com/hellais/ooni-and-daphn3 * Also Geneva could work for this purpose https://geneva.cs.umd.edu/ * polyanthum got upgraded to bullseye * everything is working except for bridgestrap metrics * Any anti-censorship stands/activities at MCH2022 (https://mch2022.org/)? == Actions == == Interesting links == == Reading group == * We will discuss "" on * * 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. cecylia (cohosh): last updated 2022-05-19 Last week: - finished setting up networked VMs for conjure development - reviewed some snowflake MRs - emailed conjure people about weird license for required kernel module This week: - continue work on conjure PT - continue snowflake maintenance tasks Needs help with: dcf: 2022-05-19 Last week: - posted a chart of estimated daily unique Snowflake users https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/network-health/metrics/analysis/-/issues/… - helped investigate a reported DTLS blocking rule in Russia https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/censorship-analysis/-/iss… https://ntc.party/t/a-new-snowflake-blocking-rule-offset-of-supported-group… https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… - snowflake CDN bookkeeping https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/team/-/wikis/Snowflake-co… - analyzed OONI stunreachability measurements from Russia https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/anti-censorship-team/2022-May/000237… Next week: - look at STATUS VERSION proposal https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/core/torspec/-/merge_requests/63 - set up access control on the snowflake-02 bridge https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… Help with: arlolra: 2022-04-07 Last week: - Merged the rest of snowflake !81 Next week: - Get to snowflake-webext #10 Evergreen: - 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: - meskio: 2022-05-19 Last week: - add a delay to BridgeDB reconnections to rdsys backend (bridgedb!40) - release a new version of snowflake-proxy and obfs4-bridge docker images for multiple archs - fix issues after polyanthum upgrade to bullseye Next week: - rethink distributor retries to the rdsys backend (rdsys#99) - use systemd to run bridgedb (team#72) Shelikhoo: 2022-05-19 Last Week: - [Merge Request] Add Distributed Snowflake Server Support (snowflake!87) - [Merge Request Awaiting] Add SOCKS5 forward proxy support to snowflake (snowflake!64) - [Research & Coding] WebSocket + CDN Based Probe Control Connection Forwarder (shelikhoo/LogCollectorAncillary#3) - [Coding & Deployment] Proposal: Centralized Probe Result Collector (anti-censorship/team#54) - [Discussion & Deployment] Migrating Controling git repo to Tor Gitlab Instance (shelikhoo/LogCollectorAncillary#5) <- awaiting/blocked Next Week: - [Coding] Distributed Snowflake Bridges (continue) - [Coding] Distributed Snowflake Bridges (Javascript ver.) - [Merge Request] Add Distributed Snowflake Server Support (snowflake!87) - [Coding & Deployment] Proposal: Centralized Probe Result Collector (anti-censorship/team#54) - [Research & Coding] WebSocket + CDN Based Probe Control Connection Forwarder (shelikhoo/LogCollectorAncillary#3) - [Research & Coding] Implement metrics to measure snowflake churn (https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow…) Itchy Onion: 2022-05-12 Last week: - audit s28 PI meeting - work on the snowflake issues assigned to me (!84, !88) - review MRs assigned to me This week: - work on the snowflake issues assigned to me - review MRs assigned to me - work on s28 issue 81 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… 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 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 | https://meskio.net/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- My contact info: https://meskio.net/crypto.txt -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Nos vamos a Croatan.

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UX team meeting notes, May 17th
by Duncan Russell 19 May '22

19 May '22

Hello, Thanks to everyone who made it to this week's UX Team meeting. We’re looking forward to seeing you all again in a week’s time on May 24th. Here are the minutes: http <http://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-05-17-15.59.log…>://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-05-17 <http://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-05-17-15.59.log…>-15 <http://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-05-17-15.59.log…>.59.log.html <http://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-05-17-15.59.log…> Today we shared an update on our progress with various projects across the team, discussed the proposal to change Tor Browser for Android’s versioning system, chatted about next week’s East Africa meetup, and shared an update about the Community QA recruitment campaign that commenced last week. *** == User Experience Team Meeting == UX Team meetings happen every Tuesday at 1600 UTC in #tor-meeting on OFTC. Here are the logs from our meeting on May 17th: http <http://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-05-17-15.59.log…>://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-05-17 <http://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-05-17-15.59.log…>-15 <http://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-05-17-15.59.log…>.59.log.html <http://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2022/tor-meeting.2022-05-17-15.59.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…> == Meetbot commands == - #startmeeting UX Team Weekly Meeting - #endmeeting --------------------------- Tuesday May 17th @ 16:00 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> S123 - Tor Secure Access Package for USAGM https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/-/milestones/34 <https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/-/milestones/34> == Announcements == Congestion Control Arrives in Tor 0.4.7-stable! https://blog.torproject.org/congestion-contrl-047/ <https://blog.torproject.org/congestion-contrl-047/> New Release: Tor Browser 11.0.12 (Android) https://blog.torproject.org/ <https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-11012/>new-release-tor-browser-11 <https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-11012/>012 <https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-11012/>/ <https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-11012/> == Agenda == Evergreen items: 1. Announcements 📣 2. Weekly planning 📅 3. Check-in with user support 💬 Discussion items for this week only: 4. Tor Browser for Android versioning 5. UX team at the East Africa meetup 6. Community QA recruitment campaign update == Weekly planning == Note: Please highlight anything you'd like to discuss below in **bold** duncan/donuts Last week (actual): - Final prep for the Community QA recruitment campaign launch in applications/team#6 - afk! This week (planned): - Catch up on email backlog - Review latest challenges and needs report in ux/research#25 - Review interview script feeback for S101 - Design mockup for the bundled tb-manual in applications/tor-browser#40885 - Design QA for TB 11.5a11 in applications/tor-browser#40911 Backlog/time permitting: - Start thinking about social previews/teasers for Tor Browser 11.5 - Write blog post to support the Community QA recruitment campaign in operations/communications#65 - Begin wireframes for the Tor VPN in ux/design#35 Nah Last week (actual): - finished transcribe all s9 interviews - wrote s9 report about digital rights organizations needs - did pilot test on interview script (s101) - collecting feedback on the interview script (s101) - planning user research for s96 - start prepare for east africa meetup This week (planned): - last updates and publish s9 report #25 - start plans for user research in Ecuador: snowflake webpage? tor browser download page? - start scheduling s101 interviews #76 - collecting feedback during a tor training on thursday - finish prep for east africa meetup - reach out some digital rights organizations to collect feedback on localized material - start plans for s96 research (connect assist): contact fabby, and tibet Nicob Last week (actual): - out sick most of last week - Annual report: Continued work on illustrations and overall design - S123: Continued QA work with kez on landing page - QA Alpha Tester Recruitment campaign: final graphics, forum badge, and posted graphics to ig and fb This week (planned): - Finish Annual Report design - Begin work on updating tor browser download page designs: wireframe and lo-fi screens: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/web/tpo/-/issues/248 <https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/web/tpo/-/issues/248> Joydeep Check-in with user support: - User Support Report for April: https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-project/2022-May/003365.html <https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-project/2022-May/003365.html> - Update for GrapheneOS user wrt Fenix#40212: https://forum.torproject.net/t/crash-on-startup-bug/3283 <https://forum.torproject.net/t/crash-on-startup-bug/3283> == 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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Community council updates (nothing's on fire!)
by Nick Mathewson 19 May '22

19 May '22

Hello! Hi! On behalf of the community council, I'm writing you this status update to let you know how we're doing. We haven't done one of these updates in a while, so we hope it's interesting. tl;dr: Nothing is currently on fire. Our activities at present fall into two main categories: reacting to existing situations that we've been asked to address, and proactively looking into our policies to see how to improve them in the future. In the first category, we have three ongoing (but unfortunately slow-moving) cases. One involves a hacker conference where we are seeking clarity about their safety policies; two involve people in the broader hacker community. We hope to have all of these resolved well before the end of this CC's tenure. In the second category, we're working in two directions to try to improve decision-making for future community councils, so that they can do their jobs more effectively: * We're working on a conflict-of-interest policy for community council members. (We don't have any COI cases before us now, but we think it's a good idea to get a solid policy written _before_ one comes up, to prevent arguments.) * We're working on a more formal information-continuity policy for the community council. (At present, the community council does not keep permanent records of past cases from one council to the next. This protects privacy, but opens us to misunderstandings and possible manipulation as council members rotate.) We are looking for a 'sweet spot' to allow us to preserve privacy while ensuring that future community councils have a reliable way to reach out to former councils for information. Finally, to anybody thinking of volunteering the community council in the future: I'd strongly recommend it. The workload has been quite manageable, the people have been professional and kind, and the stress levels have been (so far) comparatively low. best wishes, -- Nick

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Tomorrow we hangout!
by emma peel 19 May '22

19 May '22

Every 3rd Friday of the month the Tor L10n Team meets to translate together, share tricks, have fun while translating, meet fellow translators, and find out about the l10n priorities for the Tor Project. Tomorrow on the hangout we will talk about the coming updates of the Tor Browser, with new connection - bridges configuration. We will install a Tor alpha to see how the new connection works and what is a Bridge emoji. Come join us on the Localization Hangout, from Noon UTC, on the #tor-l10n channel in OFTC. (you can also use Element https://element.io/ to connect: #tor-l10n:matrix.org) At 13 UTC we make a call on Big Blue Button If you are not a translator yet, you still have time to become one before the hangout: https://community.torproject.org/localization/becoming-tor-translator/ What do we do in a hangout? Translate stuff Share translation tips and resources Complain about developers Talk about translation priorities Talk about our local contexts Practice bug reporting and git skills

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