April 2026 - tor-project - lists.torproject.org

Anti-censorship team meeting notes, 2026-04-16
by Cecylia Bocovich 17 Apr '26

17 Apr '26

Hi everyone, Here is our meeting log: https://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2026/tor-meeting.2026-04-16-16.00.ht… And our meeting pad: Anti-censorship -------------------------------- Next meeting: Thursday, Apr 16 16:00 UTC Facilitator:meskio ^^^(See Facilitator Queue at tail) Weekly meetings, every Thursday at 16:00 UTC, in #tor-meeting at OFTC (channel is logged while meetings are in progress) This week's Facilitator:shelikhoo == 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 the Tor Project and Tor community. == 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 projects, we are working on: All needs review tickets: https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/anti-censorship/-/merge_requests?s… == Announcements == == Discussion == Draft short paper about using fountain codes for rendezvous, comments welcome https://repo.or.cz/erasure-code-rendezvous.git/blob_plain/5b4b5d1cc188cdc12… https://repo.or.cz/erasure-code-rendezvous.git/tree/5b4b5d1cc188cdc12adf1f4… Recent snowflake proxy updates for DTLS fingerprinting (randomizemimic by default) https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… We haven't reached out to operators yet cohosh offers to send a tor-relays email The snowflake default bridge lines in Tor Browser were updated with a new set of STUN servers == 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? Next in the Reading Group Queue: == 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): 2026-04-16 Last week: - added bloco to KnownProxyTypes for broker metrics (snowflake#40534) - implemented a way to manually update poll intervals without restart (snowflake!701) - responded to IPtProxy issue to expose GetCurrentNATType for the snowflake proxy (snowflake#40536) - https://github.com/tladesignz/IPtProxy/issues/86 - worked on proxy fairness proposal writeup Next week: - keep following up with fingerprinting in Russia - make proxy-bridge reachability checks robust to bridge outages (snowflake#40504) - more work on letting broker inform proxies how often to poll - have proxies honour the NextPoll message - follow up about running shadow simulations for snowflake performance - revisit conjure integration with lyrebird - take a look at potential snowflake orbot bug - https://github.com/guardianproject/orbot-android/issues/1183 dcf: 2026-04-16 Last week: Next week: - comment on dynamic poll rate adjustment https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… Help with: meskio: 2026-03-26 Last week: - split translation strings in the telegram distributor to make it easier to translate (rdsys#299) - stop sharing windows7 TB in Telegram gettor, as there is no releases anymore (onionsproutsbot#77) - assignments log scrambled on our side (rdsys!638) - grant work Next week: - give it a try to gorelease to produce debian packages Shelikhoo: 2026-04-16 Last Week: - [Testing] Unreliable+unordered WebRTC data channel transport for Snowflake rev2 (cont.)( https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… ) testing environment setup/research - Merge request Reviews - [Research] proxy pool overload and potential blocking in Iran ( https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… ) - [Research] Add three NAT type buckets to the snowflake broker ( https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… ) - Writing Socks5 UDP proxy for nat type simuation - [Done] Update Snowflake STUN servers at Tor browser ( https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser-build/-/merge_re… ) Next (working) Week/TODO: - Merge request reviews - [Deployment]Unreliable+unordered WebRTC data channel transport for Snowflake rev2 (cont.)( https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… ) Building custom Tor Browser with patch applied - Vantage point maintaince - [Research] proxy pool overload and potential blocking in Iran ( https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… ) - [Research] Add three NAT type buckets to the snowflake broker ( https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… ) - Writing Socks5 UDP proxy for nat type simuation onyinyang: 2026-04-09 Last week(s): - Started background work for project #170 Next week: - Start on tasks for project #170 Switch back to some of these: As time allows: - Continue work on rdsys#196 - Continue Investigating rdsys#248 i.e., why dysfunctional webtunnel bridges are being distributed - Troubleshooting conjure not connecting in China - waiting for more information from conjure authors/maintainers - Lox still seems to be filling up the disk on the rdsys-test server despite changes made to delete old entries, look into what's going wrong Blog post for conjure: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/conj… - review Tor browser Lox integration https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/merge_requests… - add TTL cache to lox MR for duplicate responses: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/lox/-/merge_requests/305 - Work on outstanding milestone issues: - key rotation automation Later: pending decision on abandoning lox wasm in favour of some kind of FFI? https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/43096) - add pref to handle timing for pubkey checks in Tor browser - add trusted invitation logic to tor browser integration: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/42974 - improve metrics collection/think about how to show Lox is working/valuable - sketch out Lox blog post/usage notes for forum (long term things were discussed at the meeting!): - brainstorming grouping strategies for Lox buckets (of bridges) and gathering context on how types of bridges are distributed/use in practice Question: What makes a bridge usable for a given user, and how can we encode that to best ensure we're getting the most appropriate resources to people? 1. Are there some obvious grouping strategies that we can already consider? e.g., by PT, by bandwidth (lower bandwidth bridges sacrificed to open-invitation buckets?), by locale (to be matched with a requesting user's geoip or something?) 2. Does it make sense to group 3 bridges/bucket, so trusted users have access to 3 bridges (and untrusted users have access to 1)? More? Less? theodorsm: 2026-04-16 Last weeks: - MR fixing silent errors of fingerprint parse failure in covert-dtls: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… - Researching possible DTLS blocking in Russia - Implementing DTLS 1.3 in pion Next weeks: - Implementing DTLS 1.3 in pion Help with: - Facilitator Queue: meskio onyinyang cohosh shelikhoo 1. First available staff in the Facilitator Queue will be the facilitator for the meeting 2. After facilitating the meeting, the facilitator will be moved to the tail of the queue

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User Support Report for March 2026
by ebanam 11 Apr '26

11 Apr '26

Hello everyone, This is the report from user support team for the month of March 2026. Note: (↑), (↓) and (-) are indicating if the number of tickets we received for these topics have been increasing, decreasing or have been the same from the previous month respectively. - Summary of updates from user support - General user support - Farsi-speaking user support - Russian-speaking user support - Frontdesk (email user support channel) - Telegram, WhatsApp and Signal user support channels - Highlights from the Tor Forum - Highlights from Google Play Store # Summary of updates from user support ## General user support * 486 tickets in total (↓110 as compared to February) * 319 tickets on Email * 118 tickets on Telegram * 24 tickets on Signal * 25 tickets on WhatsApp * With Tor Browser 15.0.7 release, a potential fix was shipped for the long-time persisting issue about the [Tor daemon failing in the background][] when using Tor Browser for Android. After a month of reviewing Google Play Store reviews and comments and monitoring our user support channels, I am happy to report the issue seems to have been fixed \o/. * With Tor VPN beta now available to download from F-Droid App Store, we updated the documentation with instructions to [download and install][], update and uninstall the app from F-Droid. * Tor Browser has dropped support for [legacy operating systems]. We updated the documentation to reflect this update. [Tor daemon failing in the background]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/42714 [download and install]: https://support.torproject.org/tor-vpn/getting-started/download-and-install/ [legacy operating system]: https://support.torproject.org/tor-browser/security/legacy-os/ ## Farsi-speaking user support * 33 tickets in total (↓75 as compared to February) * 7 tickets on Email * 26 tickets on Telegram * In March, users in Iran have been experiencing a near-total shutdown. As per reports, only a handful number of whitelisted services remain accessible and most common censorship circumvention tools are no longer working reliably. For users who managed to reach out to us on our support channels, we have been suggesting [dnstt][] (DNS tunneling) with Tor. Information about it is being shared through the [@GetDnsttBot on Telegram][], along with instructions on how to use dnstt with Orbot and Tor Browser. * As per a [survey] conducted via Telegram in Farsi for internet users in Iran, with about 13,400 responses, 12% of the respondents mentioned they were able to access the internet using dnstt. [dnstt]: https://dnstt.network/ [@GetdnsttBot on Telegram]: https://t.me/getdnsttbot [survey]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/censorship-analysis/-/iss… ## Russian-speaking user support * 709 tickets in total (↓179 as compared to February) * 176 tickets on Email (↑19) * 518 tickets on Telegram (↓207) * 7 tickets on WhatsApp (↑1) * 8 tickets on Signal (↑8) * As a result of Russia blocking Telegram since the mid of March, the number of tickets we received over our user support channel on Telegram has dropped significantly. In the meantime, as a reminder for our users that we have [support channels][] reachable over email and other mediums, we posted updates reflecting that on our Telegram channels [in English][] as well as [in Russian][] respectively. We are already noticing a surge in the number tickets over email from Russian-speaking users. [support channels]: https://support.torproject.org/ru/get-in-touch/user-support/ [in English]: https://t.me/torproject/53 [in Russian]: https://t.me/torproject/55 # Frontdesk (email user support channel) * 485(-) RT tickets created * 502(↓) RT tickets resolved Tickets by topics and numbers: 1. 176(↑) tickets: circumventing censorship in Russian speaking countries. 2. 170(↓) tickets: instructions to circumvent censorship for Chinese speaking users. 3. 61(↓) tickets: help with troubleshooting existing Tor Browser install on Desktop (Windows, macOS and Linux). 4. 17(↑) tickets: help with troubleshooting Tor VPN beta. 5. 13() tickets: circumventing censorship with Tor in Farsi. 6. 9(↓) tickets: reports of fake apps on iOS AppStore masquerading as official Tor Browser 7. 5(↑) tickets: questions about which Tor app to install on iOS (i.e. Onion Browser or Orbot). 8. 5(↓) tickets: report of websites blocking Tor connections or not performing well in Tor Browser. 9. 5(↑) tickets: help with using bridges with Tor VPN Beta. 10. 4(↑) tickets: question about contributing to Tor. 11. 4(↑) tickets: help with using bridges with Tails. 12. 2(↑) tickets: can't use Tor VPN when Private DNS is configured on Android's Network settings. 13. 2(↓) tickets: help with troubleshooting Tor Browser for Android. 14. 2(↑) tickets: Accessibility issues and [Dark Mode][] in Tor Browser. 15. 2(↓) tickets: instructions on how to get Tor Browser binaries from GetTor. 16. 2(↓) tickets: help with setting up Snowflake proxy. 17. 2(-) tickets: instructions to download Tor Browser 13.5 legacy for legacy operating systems. 18. 1(↓) ticket: reports of anti-virus software blocking Tor Browser from running on Windows. 19. 1(↓) ticket: unable to save passwords on Tor Browser Desktop. 20. 1(↑) ticket: help with installing Tor VPN beta. 21. 1(↑) ticket: report of Tor VPN [bug#469][] 22. 1(↑) ticket: report of an issue with [configuring the 'exit' location][] on Tor VPN. 23. 1(↑) ticket: how to change the search engine from Tor Browser's default DuckDuckGo. 24. 1(↑) ticket: question about installing Tor Browser on a Chromebook. 25. 1(↑) ticket: [Web Authentication][] (WebAuthn) support is disabled in Tor Browser. 26. 1(↑) ticket: [German translation][] suggestion. 27. 1(↑) ticket: [Advisory][] for Tor Relay operators. 28. 1(↑) ticket: Tor Browser for Android [displays a notification] even after the browser session is closed. [Dark Mode]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/40337 [bug#469]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/vpn/-/issues/469 [configuring the 'exit' location]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/vpn/-/issues/428 [Web Authentication]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/26614 [German translation]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/community/l10n/-/issues/40194 [Advisory]: https://lists.torproject.org/mailman3/hyperkitty/list/tor-relays@lists.torp… [displays a notification]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/43695 # Telegram, WhatsApp and Signal user support channels * 727(↓) tickets resolved Breakdown: * 662(↓) tickets on Telegram * 33(↑) tickets on Signal * 32(-) tickets on WhatsApp Tickets by topics and numbers: 1. 518(↓) tickets: circumventing censorship in Russian speaking countries. 2. 36(↓) tickets: help with using bridges with Tor VPN Beta. 3. 36(↑) tickets: help with troubleshooting existing Tor Browser install on Desktop (Windows, macOS and Linux). 4. 35(↑) tickets: instructions to circumvent censorship for Chinese speaking users. 5. 26(↓) tickets: circumventing censorship with Tor in Farsi. 6. 23(↓) tickets: instructions to fetch bridges from Bridge distributors on Telegram or Email and use them with Tor Browser and Tor VPN beta. 7. 22(↑) tickets: questions about which Tor app to install on iOS (i.e. Onion Browser or Orbot). 8. 17(↑) tickets: help with troubleshooting Tor VPN beta. 9. 12(↑) tickets: instructions on how to get Tor Browser binaries from GetTor. 10. 11(↓) tickets: helping users on iOS, using Onion Browser or Orbot, to use censorship circumvention methods. 11. 7(-) tickets: help with troubleshooting existing Tor Browser install on Android. 12. 4(↑) tickets: questions about onion services and how to access them. 13. 4(↑) tickets: help with using bridges with Tails. 14. 4(↑) tickets: reports of [GetTor distributor][] on Telegram not working. (Issue is resolved). 15. 2(↑) tickets: report of websites blocking Tor connections or not performing well in Tor Browser. 16. 2(↓) tickets: instructions to use WebTunnel bridges with Tor Browser. 17. 1(↓) ticket: help with installing Tor Browser on Desktop on Linux. 18. 1(↓) ticket: GetBridgesBot on Telegram freezes and stops sending bridges and users have to clear chat history. 19. 1(↓) ticket: instructions to download Tor Browser 13.5 legacy for legacy operating systems. 20. 1(↓) ticket: help with configuring bridges to use with little-t tor (the network daemon). 21. 1(↑) ticket: Misconfigured [WebTunnel bridges] exposed to the public relay extra-infos docs. 22. 1(↑) ticket: question about the letterboxing feature in Tor Browser. [GetTor distributor]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/gettor-project/OnionSprou… [WebTunnel bridges]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/team/-/issues/179 # Highlights from the Tor Forum * Issue with [bookmarks and saved passwords][] on Tor Browser for macOS. * [Tor Browser legacy][] has dropped support for legacy operating systems. [bookmarks and saved passwords]: https://forum.torproject.org/t/i-cant-get-the-bookmarks-and-passwords/21352 [Tor Browser legacy]: https://forum.torproject.org/t/new-release-tor-browser-13-5-29/21283/2 # Highlights from Google Play Store ## Tor Browser for Android * Tor Browser for Android (TBA) had a Google Play rating of 4.426(↑0.02) stars in March, which is higher as compared to in February. The surge in ratings is very likely due to the fix for the 'Tor daemon failing in the background' on [Android bug], that shipped with Tor Browser 15.0.7. * Tor Browser for Android (TBA) got 581(↓79) new reviews. The total count of reviews for the app stands at 68,396. * For Tor Browser, the most common issue mentioned on reviews was the censorship against Tor in the countries like Russia, China, Iran. [Android bug]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/42714 ## Tor Browser for Android Alpha * Tor Browser for Android Alpha app had a rating of 4.131(-) in March which is the same as compared to February. * In March, Tor Browser for Android Alpha got 21(↑6) new reviews. The total count of reviews for the app stands at 8,777. ## Tor VPN Beta * Tor VPN beta number of unique daily users is around 77,000 at the end of March. * The top 5 countries by the number of installations being (in descending order): Russia, Iran, India, the United States, and Turkmenistan. Thanks! -- ebanam

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Anti-censorship team meeting notes, 2026-04-09
by Shelikhoo 09 Apr '26

09 Apr '26

Hey everyone! Here are our meeting logs: https://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2026/tor-meeting.2026-04-09-16.00.ht… And our meeting pad: Anti-censorship work meeting pad -------------------------------- Anti-censorship -------------------------------- Next meeting: Thursday, Apr 16 16:00 UTC Facilitator:meskio ^^^(See Facilitator Queue at tail) Weekly meetings, every Thursday at 16:00 UTC, in #tor-meeting at OFTC (channel is logged while meetings are in progress) This week's Facilitator:shelikhoo == 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 the Tor Project and Tor community. == 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 projects, we are working on: * All needs review tickets: * https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/anti-censorship/-/merge_requests?s… == Announcements == * == Discussion == * (New 04-08) Requesting feedback on broker AIMD dynamic poll interval * Description: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… * Simulation results: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… * Implementation: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… - Snowflake-targeted DTLS filtering in Russia, starting 2026-03-30 https://github.com/net4people/bbs/issues/603 == Actions == * == Interesting links == * https://www.internetsociety.org/resources/doc/2025/mandated-dns-blocking/ * "Mandated DNS blocking, often presented as a straightforward policy solution, is ineffective, harmful, and impractical. It is ineffective because it is easily circumvented by users and fails to remove targeted content, which simply reappears under new domain names. It is harmful because this blunt instrument cannot distinguish between lawful and unlawful material, leading to overblocking, fragmentation of the Internet’s global naming system, and the failure of interconnected services, including critical security protocols. Finally, it is impractical because the DNS is not bound by geography, meaning national blocking orders against global resolvers create unintended and widespread extraterritorial effects. Mandated blocking is the wrong tool for a role the DNS was never designed to play." == 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? * Next in the Reading Group Queue: * == 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): 2026-04-09 Last week: - responded to blocking of snowflake in russia - opened issue with iptproxy to enable covertdtls feature - enabled covertdtls by default for standalone proxies (snowflake!700) - caught up on anonymous report about blocking triggered by simultaneous connections (snowflake#40529) - released new version of snowflake (v2.13.1) - finished simple simulation and implementation of dynamic poll rate adjustment (snowflake#25598) - opened draft MR for dynamic poll rate adjustment (snowflake!701) Next week: - keep following up with fingerprinting in Russia - make proxy-bridge reachability checks robust to bridge outages (snowflake#40504) - more work on letting broker inform proxies how often to poll - have proxies honour the NextPoll message - follow up about running shadow simulations for snowflake performance - revisit conjure integration with lyrebird - take a look at potential snowflake orbot bug - https://github.com/guardianproject/orbot-android/issues/1183 dcf: 2026-04-09 Last week: - opened an issue for snowflake proxy -covertdtls-fingerprint silent termination https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… - opened an issue to have snowflake-client log whenever KCPInErrors is nonzero https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… Next week: - comment on dynamic poll rate adjustment https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… Help with: meskio: 2026-03-26 Last week: - split translation strings in the telegram distributor to make it easier to translate (rdsys#299) - stop sharing windows7 TB in Telegram gettor, as there is no releases anymore (onionsproutsbot#77) - assignments log scrambled on our side (rdsys!638) - grant work Next week: - give it a try to gorelease to produce debian packages Shelikhoo: 2026-04-09 Last Week: - [Testing] Unreliable+unordered WebRTC data channel transport for Snowflake rev2 (cont.)( https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… ) testing environment setup/research - Merge request Reviews - [Research] proxy pool overload and potential blocking in Iran ( https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… ) - [Research] Add three NAT type buckets to the snowflake broker ( https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… ) - Writing Socks5 UDP proxy for nat type simuation - Update Snowflake STUN servers at Tor browser ( https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser-build/-/merge_re… ) Next (working) Week/TODO: - Merge request reviews - [Deployment]Unreliable+unordered WebRTC data channel transport for Snowflake rev2 (cont.)( https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… ) Building custom Tor Browser with patch applied - Vantage point maintaince - [Research] proxy pool overload and potential blocking in Iran ( https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… ) - [Research] Add three NAT type buckets to the snowflake broker ( https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… ) onyinyang: 2026-04-09 Last week(s): - Started background work for project #170 Next week: - Start on tasks for project #170 Switch back to some of these: As time allows: - Continue work on rdsys#196 - Continue Investigating rdsys#248 i.e., why dysfunctional webtunnel bridges are being distributed - Troubleshooting conjure not connecting in China - waiting for more information from conjure authors/maintainers - Lox still seems to be filling up the disk on the rdsys-test server despite changes made to delete old entries, look into what's going wrong Blog post for conjure: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/conj… - review Tor browser Lox integration https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/merge_requests… - add TTL cache to lox MR for duplicate responses: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/lox/-/merge_requests/305 - Work on outstanding milestone issues: - key rotation automation Later: pending decision on abandoning lox wasm in favour of some kind of FFI? https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/43096) - add pref to handle timing for pubkey checks in Tor browser - add trusted invitation logic to tor browser integration: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/42974 - improve metrics collection/think about how to show Lox is working/valuable - sketch out Lox blog post/usage notes for forum (long term things were discussed at the meeting!): - brainstorming grouping strategies for Lox buckets (of bridges) and gathering context on how types of bridges are distributed/use in practice Question: What makes a bridge usable for a given user, and how can we encode that to best ensure we're getting the most appropriate resources to people? 1. Are there some obvious grouping strategies that we can already consider? e.g., by PT, by bandwidth (lower bandwidth bridges sacrificed to open-invitation buckets?), by locale (to be matched with a requesting user's geoip or something?) 2. Does it make sense to group 3 bridges/bucket, so trusted users have access to 3 bridges (and untrusted users have access to 1)? More? Less? theodorsm: 2026-04-09 Last weeks: - MR updating covert-dtls and improving public config API: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… - Implementing DTLS 1.3 in pion Next weeks: - Implementing DTLS 1.3 in pion Help with: -

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Anti-censorship team meeting notes, 2026-04-02
by onyinyang 02 Apr '26

02 Apr '26

Hey everyone! Here are our meeting logs: https://meetbot.debian.net/tor-meeting/2026/tor-meeting.2026-04-02-16.00.ht… And our meeting pad: Anti-censorship work meeting pad -------------------------------- Anti-censorship -------------------------------- Next meeting: Thursday, Apr 09 16:00 UTC Facilitator: shelikhoo ^^^(See Facilitator Queue at tail) Weekly meetings, every Thursday at 16:00 UTC, in #tor-meeting at OFTC (channel is logged while meetings are in progress) This week's Facilitator:onyinyang == 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 the Tor Project and Tor community. == 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 projects, we are working on: * All needs review tickets: * https://gitlab.torproject.org/groups/tpo/anti-censorship/-/merge_requests?s… == Announcements == * == Discussion == * Discuss snowflake proxy mobile application * https://github.com/blocoio/snowflake * A standalone dedicated app (Android), not bundled with Orbot * Planning to release on F-Droid and Google Play as "Snowflake Volunteers" * Implementation language is Kotlin * Important priority: keep up with changes in proxy messages and other proxy implementations * The app uses IPtProxy, so it should inherit updates from there * App reports its proxy type as "bloco", we need to add that to the list of known proxy types (in the broker?) to have it included in stats as other than "unknown" * Shell suggests a type name prefixing scheme, whereby implementations could be something like "webext-suffix" and be sorted into the "webext" bucket by default, with the option of separating them out in analysis * Need to ensure no telemetry or logging of user IP addresses * Privacy policy: https://bloco-privacy-policy.web.app/snowflake.html == Actions == * == Interesting links == * https://www.techpolicy.press/what-digital-isolation-and-censorship-evasion-… * via https://mastodon.social/@torproject/116330694532247442 == 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? * Next in the Reading Group Queue: * == 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): 2026-04-02 Last week: - wrote up plan for dynamic poll rate adjustment - https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… - worked with UCSC researchers on enumeration simulations - got go1.22 support for macos only merged in tor-browser-build Next week: - follow up about running shadow simulations for snowflake performance - research snowflake enumeration attacks (snowflake#40396) - implement proxy fairness proposal - follow up on snowflake rendezvous failures (snowflake#40447) - revisit conjure integration with lyrebird - take a look at potential snowflake orbot bug - https://github.com/guardianproject/orbot-android/issues/1183 dcf: 2026-04-02 Last week: - commented on a "birthday" NAT traversal idea https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… Next week: - comment on dynamic poll rate adjustment https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… - open issue to have snowflake-client log whenever KCPInErrors is nonzero https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… - parent: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… Help with: meskio: 2026-03-26 Last week: - AFK - grant work Next week: - assignments log clean up in rdsys side Shelikhoo: 2026-04-02 Last Week: - [Testing] Unreliable+unordered WebRTC data channel transport for Snowflake rev2 (cont.)( https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… ) testing environment setup/research - Merge request Reviews - [Research] proxy pool overload and potential blocking in Iran ( https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… ) - [Research] Add three NAT type buckets to the snowflake broker ( https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… ) - [MR] Done: Update webtunnel version to 0.0.4 and update bundled dockerfile dependencies ( https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/webt… ) Next (working) Week/TODO: - Merge request reviews - [Deployment]Unreliable+unordered WebRTC data channel transport for Snowflake rev2 (cont.)( https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… ) Building custom Tor Browser with patch applied - Vantage point maintaince - [Research] proxy pool overload and potential blocking in Iran ( https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… ) - [Research] Add three NAT type buckets to the snowflake broker ( https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… ) onyinyang: 2026-04-02 Last week(s): - Finished reworking lox-extension MR and integration with Tor - Started background work for project #170 Next week: - Start on tasks for project #170 Switch back to some of these: As time allows: - Continue work on rdsys#196 - Continue Investigating rdsys#248 i.e., why dysfunctional webtunnel bridges are being distributed - Troubleshooting conjure not connecting in China - waiting for more information from conjure authors/maintainers - Lox still seems to be filling up the disk on the rdsys-test server despite changes made to delete old entries, look into what's going wrong Blog post for conjure: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/conj… - review Tor browser Lox integration https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/merge_requests… - add TTL cache to lox MR for duplicate responses: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/lox/-/merge_requests/305 - Work on outstanding milestone issues: - key rotation automation Later: pending decision on abandoning lox wasm in favour of some kind of FFI? https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/43096) - add pref to handle timing for pubkey checks in Tor browser - add trusted invitation logic to tor browser integration: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/42974 - improve metrics collection/think about how to show Lox is working/valuable - sketch out Lox blog post/usage notes for forum (long term things were discussed at the meeting!): - brainstorming grouping strategies for Lox buckets (of bridges) and gathering context on how types of bridges are distributed/use in practice Question: What makes a bridge usable for a given user, and how can we encode that to best ensure we're getting the most appropriate resources to people? 1. Are there some obvious grouping strategies that we can already consider? e.g., by PT, by bandwidth (lower bandwidth bridges sacrificed to open-invitation buckets?), by locale (to be matched with a requesting user's geoip or something?) 2. Does it make sense to group 3 bridges/bucket, so trusted users have access to 3 bridges (and untrusted users have access to 1)? More? Less? theodorsm: 2026-02-19 Last weeks: - Bumping pion stack version with backport: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snow… - Implementing DTLS 1.3 in pion Next weeks: - Implementing DTLS 1.3 in pion Help with: - Facilitator Queue: cohosh onyinyang shelikhoo meskio 1. First available staff in the Facilitator Queue will be the facilitator for the meeting 2. After facilitating the meeting, the facilitator will be moved to the tail of the queue -- --- onyinyang GPG Fingerprint 3CC3 F8CC E9D0 A92F A108 38EF 156A 6435 430C 2036

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