Hello Tor world,
In November 2018, the OONI team released the public beta of the revamped OONI Probe mobile apps and, in collaboration with the Localization Lab, we started coordinating the translation of the apps in preparation for their stable release. We also dealt with infrastructure-related issues, worked on pipeline ingestion fixes, added end-to-end integration tests to the OONI Probe orchestration system, and presented OONI at a number of events.
## Public beta release of OONI Probe mobile apps
We released the public beta of the OONI Probe mobile apps.
On Android:
* Sign up to the beta: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/org.openobservatory.ooniprobe
* Update your OONI Probe mobile app (to get the public beta) from Google Play
On iOS:
* Tap on this link from your device and follow the instructions: https://testflight.apple.com/join/rh3Ig7fE
## Translation of revamped OONI Probe mobile apps
The revamped OONI Probe mobile apps not only include new design, UI and features, but they also include new (and hopefully improved!) copy.
During November we:
* Translated all of the new OONI Probe mobile app copy to Greek
* Published guidelines for translators: https://github.com/ooni/translations/blob/master/Guidelines.md
The Localization Lab provided us support with regards to the coordination of the rest of the translations (https://www.transifex.com/otf/ooniprobe/).
## Infrastructure
During November, we worked on improving our infrastructure and dealing with infrastructure-related issues. Specifically:
1. The eclipsis platform migrated their servers from Washington DC to Miami and we dealt with the issues related to that migration: https://github.com/ooni/sysadmin/pull/247, https://github.com/ooni/sysadmin/issues/241
2. Dissecting the XEN bug with Greenhost: https://github.com/ooni/sysadmin/issues/240 (that was triggered by simhash ingestion)
3. Open recursive resolver at ooni-zoo.infra.ooni.io used for amplification attack: https://github.com/ooni/sysadmin/issues/248
4. Dealing with services going down: https://github.com/ooni/sysadmin/issues/244, https://github.com/ooni/sysadmin/issues/245, https://github.com/ooni/sysadmin/issues/157#issuecomment-435663643
## Pipeline ingestion fixes
We worked on pipeline ingestion fixes (that are a dependency for further work on the pipeline code): https://github.com/ooni/pipeline/pull/126, https://github.com/ooni/pipeline/issues/48
## Better testing for OONI Orchestra
We added end-to-end integration tests to ooni/orchestra (https://github.com/ooni/orchestra/pull/44), the OONI Probe orchestration system. We also added support for running a full orchestration system as a docker-compose based harness.
## Worked towards the integration of Psiphon into Measurement Kit
During November 2018, we started working towards integrating Psiphon into Measurement Kit (our network measurement library that powers the OONI Probe mobile apps), in order to enable OONI Probe users to test the accessibility of Psiphon.
To this end, we discussed with Psiphon developers how to best move the project forward and we drafted an overall strategy (https://github.com/measurement-kit/measurement-kit/issues/1425). As part of this research activity, we improved the code of the Psiphon C library to make it more easily accessible to C/C++ clients (https://github.com/measurement-kit/libpsiphon/pull/2).
This is work in progress, and we'll continue to work towards integrating Psiphon into Measurement Kit over the next months.
## Community use of OONI data
### Report on the blocking of Ukrainian websites in Crimea
Digital Security Lab Ukraine published a new research report based on OONI data.
Their report, examining the blocking of Ukrainian websites in Crimea, is available here: https://medium.com/@cyberlabukraine/ukrainian-websites-in-crimea-banned-by-e...
## Community activities
### Community meeting
We held a community meeting on Slack (https://slack.openobservatory.org/) on Wednesday, 27th November 2018. As part of the meeting, we discussed: 1. Post-court verdict scenario of cellular services suspension in Pakistan
2. Censorship measurement research during (and leading up to) the DRC's upcoming December elections
3. OONI updates: Public beta (mobile apps) & translations
### OONI workshops in Taiwan
After the OTF Summit, OONI's Maria facilitated: * OONI workshop at the Mozilla Community Space Taipei (https://ocftw.kktix.cc/events/ooni-workshop), (1st November 2018)
* OONI seminar at the Science & Technology Law Institute of Taipei (2nd November 2018)
### Internet Governance Forum (IGF)
OONI's Simone traveled to Paris to attend the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), where he participated on a panel, explaining OONI and network performance tests.
Information about the panel is available here: https://www.intgovforum.org/multilingual/content/igf-2018-dc-net-neutrality-...
### OONI session at CryptoParty in Albania
OONI's Elio facilitated an OONI workshop at the CryptoParty in Tirana, Albania (17th November 2018), where he taught local activist groups how to use OONI Probe and previewed the new OONI Probe 2.0 Beta.
Photos of the event, including the OONI session, are available here: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:CryptoParty_Tirana_2018
### Southeast Asia OONI Probe workshop
Our Malaysian partners, Sinar Project, have been leading efforts to engage local Southeast Asian communities with OONI Probe censorship measurement research, particularly leading up to and during political events, such as elections.
Sinar Project recently organized and facilitated an OONI Southeast Asia Regional Workshop for their local partners in Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. The aim of their workshop was to teach their partners how to run OONI Probe, how to contribute to test lists, and how to participate in censorship measurement research more generally.
In November, Sinar Project published a report, documenting the workshop and sharing their findings, resources and recommendations.
Their report is available here: https://sinarproject.org/digital-rights/updates/open-observatory-of-network-...
### OONI session at Barcamp Bangkhen in Thailand
Our Thai partners, Thai Netizen Network, facilitated an OONI session at the Barcamp Bangkhen conference in Thailand on 25th November 2018.
Information about the conference is available here: https://2018.barcampbangkhen.org/sessions
Thai Netizen Network also shared their slides from their OONI session: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1-N6R_KqGipsBrDdUIskXMf1qr_BmEfIkPZO_...
## Userbase
In November 2018, OONI Probe was run 363,805 times from 4,733 different vantage points in 213 countries around the world.
This information can also be found through our stats: https://api.ooni.io/stats
~ The OONI team.