Hello, Happy New Year! Hope 2021 brings more good health and joy to all. Throughout December 2020, the OONI team worked on the following sprints: * Sprint 27 - Hexacorallia (December 1 - 6, 2020) * Sprint 28 - Corallimorpharia (December 7 - 19, 2020) * Sprint 29 - Dogfish shark (December 20 - 31, 2020) Our work can be tracked through the various OONI GitHub repositories: https://github.com/ooni Highlights are shared in this report below. ## Year in Review: OONI in 2020 Every year we summarize what the OONI team did through our annual “Year in Review” posts. At the end of December 2020, we published “Year in Review: OONI in 2020”, which shares OONI highlights from 2020, as well as upcoming OONI projects for 2021. In this post, we also highlight accomplishments from the OONI community in 2020. This post is available here: https://ooni.org/post/ooni-in-2020/ ## OONI Probe Mobile ### Released OONI Probe Mobile 2.8.0 We released OONI Probe Mobile 2.8.0 for: * Android: https://github.com/ooni/probe-android/releases/tag/v2.8.0 * iOS: https://github.com/ooni/probe-ios/releases/tag/v2.8.0 On Android, OONI Probe tests are run as Android services, where a notification of test progress is displayed. On both Android and iOS, the latest release enables users to free up space by deleting old measurement files in the app settings, and the OONI Probe measurement engine has been updated to v0.21.0. ### Other OONI Probe Mobile improvements Throughout December 2020, we also worked on the following: * Ensured we removed unused probe-engine settings: https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/1307 * Ensured that tapping on notifications doesn't open OONI Run or the app: https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/1307 * Fixed the unit tests on iOS * Changed the modal options for requesting push notification permission: https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/1306 * Added support for interrupting OONI Probe tests when the user’s connectivity changes: https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/1296 * Carried out some research on potentially disabling battery optimization: https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/1301 * Made some progress on implementing the check-in API: https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/1299 ## OONI Probe Desktop Throughout December 2020, we worked on the following: * Integrated the “Choose websites” function into the OONI Probe CLI (so that it can be supported on OONI Probe Desktop): https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/1283 * Implemented an MVP for automated OONI Probe testing on Windows: https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/1053 * Explored whether it’s possible to shed privileges or run with reduced privileges on Windows during automated testing: https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/1300 * Added support for max_runtime to OONI Probe desktop: https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/1280 * Started implementing a new dashboard to align with the look and feel of OONI Probe Mobile: https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/1274 ### Updating OONI Probe macOS homebrew package We made considerable progress on updating the OONI Probe macOS homebrew package with the OONI Probe Command Line Interface (CLI), as documented through this ticket: https://github.com/ooni/probe/issues/1289 ## OONI Probe Engine In early December 2020, we completed a series of routine OONI Probe engine releases (in support of the OONI Probe Mobile 2.8.0 release), as documented through this ticket: https://github.com/ooni/probe-engine/issues/1043 ## Building Debian package for OONI Probe We further improved upon the new Debian package for OONI Probe: https://github.com/ooni/probe-cli/pull/162 We now have an OONI Probe Debian package that can be installed and run in the background: https://github.com/ooni/backend/issues/452 ## Expanding OONI Probe measurement methodologies As part of our ongoing efforts to improve upon and expand our measurement methodologies, we: * Reviewed the new HTTP/3 experiment (contributed by a community members) for quality assurance, as documented through this ticket: https://github.com/ooni/probe-engine/issues/1057 (this is an ongoing task) * Carried out research and encrypted DNS experiments: https://github.com/ooni/probe-engine/issues/900 ## Wrote paper on measuring DoT/DoH blocking using OONI Probe During the last weeks of December 2020, OONI’s Simone wrote an academic paper on measuring DoT/DoH blocking through the use of OONI Probe experiments. This paper describes DNScheck (an active network experiment for the detection of DoT/DoH blocking), which we implemented into OONI Probe. We compiled a list of popular DoT/DoH services and ran DNSCheck measurements with the help of volunteer OONI Probe users. Our paper presents preliminary measurement findings from Kazakhstan (AS48716), Iran (AS197207), and China (AS45090). We have submitted this paper to the DNS Privacy Workshop 2021: https://www.ndss-symposium.org/ndss2021/cfp-dns-privacy-workshop/ ## OONI Explorer In December 2020, we worked on refactoring the OONI Explorer search page to run only on the client side: https://github.com/ooni/explorer/issues/413 We have built a measurement aggregation toolkit, a generic web-based tool that can help with creating useful visualizations with aggregated measurement data from the API. It is currently deployed in the experimental section of OONI Explorer: https://explorer.ooni.org/experimental/mat Throughout December 2020, we made a series of improvements to our measurement aggregation toolkit, as documented here: https://github.com/ooni/explorer/issues/528 Progress on future work to improve it is documented here: https://github.com/ooni/explorer/issues/536 ## OONI backend Throughout December 2020, we worked on the following backend activities: * Switched orchestrate traffic to test-list/urls to API: https://github.com/ooni/backend/issues/478 * Investigated MIA route flapping * Investigated AMS connectivity issues * Monitored the dashboard reactive test-list * Deployed persistent journald * Fixed the measurement_forwarder ## Published new OONI Partners page We published a new page on the OONI website which features all of our partners, highlights their work, links to their websites, and shares some of the research reports and projects that we have collaborated on. The new OONI Partners page is available here: https://ooni.org/partners ## Creating a new Donate page for the OONI website We steadily made progress on creating a new Donate page for the OONI website. This involved: * Relevant frontend development: https://github.com/ooni/ooni.org/pull/723 * Writing the copy for the new page: https://github.com/ooni/ooni.org/issues/713 We also: * Wrote copy for OONI’s new Open Collective account: https://github.com/ooni/ooni.org/issues/704 * Edited the copy on OONI’s GitHub Sponsors page: https://github.com/ooni/ooni.org/issues/722 ## Collaboration with Netalitica on test lists We continued to collaborate with Netalitica researchers, who did excellent work updating more Citizen Lab test lists. Throughout December 2020, we reviewed (and shared feedback on) Netalitica updates to the following test lists: * Zimbabwe: https://github.com/citizenlab/test-lists/pull/701 * Algeria: https://github.com/citizenlab/test-lists/pull/702 * Colombia: https://github.com/citizenlab/test-lists/pull/707 * Ethiopia: https://github.com/citizenlab/test-lists/pull/708 * Lebanon: https://github.com/citizenlab/test-lists/pull/709 We also updated the following test lists (in collaboration with community members): * Global & Nigerian: https://github.com/citizenlab/test-lists/pull/694 * Global: https://github.com/citizenlab/test-lists/pull/696 and https://github.com/citizenlab/test-lists/pull/700 * Cuban: https://github.com/citizenlab/test-lists/pull/698 * Nigerian: https://github.com/citizenlab/test-lists/pull/699 ## Community use of OONI data ### Amnesty Malaysia: Unsilenced Amnesty Malaysia launched a campaign, called Unsilenced, which aims to fight censorship and defend freedom of expression in Malaysia. This campaign is available here: https://unsilenced.amnesty.my/ Among the resources listed on the Unsilenced site are the OONI website and OONI measurements collected from Malaysia (linking to the Malaysian page on OONI Explorer). ## Community activities ### Internet Shutdown Measurement Training Group Presentations Between 12th October 2020 to 19th November 2020, we helped lead Internews’ 6-week Internet Shutdown Measurement Training for human rights defenders in Sub-Saharan Africa. Throughout this training program, participants were asked to work in groups to develop relevant research and advocacy projects, which we supported through mentorship. On 1st December 2020, the training participants presented their research and advocacy projects. Leading up to these presentations, we supported training participants by reviewing their presentations and sharing feedback. ### Workshop: Building capacity for internet shutdown advocacy On 15th December 2020, OONI’s Maria attended Internews’ workshop, “Building capacity for internet shutdown advocacy: Community needs assessment”, where she facilitated the discussion on community needs around censorship measurement data. Information about the workshop is available here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/building-capacity-for-internet-shutdown-advocac... ## Userbase In December 2020, 3,834,624 OONI Probe measurements were collected from 4,443 networks in 191 countries around the world. This information can also be found through our measurement stats on OONI Explorer (see chart on “monthly coverage worldwide”): https://explorer.ooni.org/ ~ OONI team. -- Maria Xynou Research & Partnerships Director Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI) https://ooni.org/ PGP Key Fingerprint: 2DC8 AFB6 CA11 B552 1081 FBDE 2131 B3BE 70CA 417E