[tor-reports] SponsorR April 2016 report

[George Kadianakis]

Hello,

here is the April 2016 report for SponsorR:

- We continued development of proposal 224. For more information see trac
  ticket #17238 and its children ticket:
    https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/17238
  We also discussed various engineering issues with the prop224 HSDir
  implementation:
    https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-dev/2016-April/010781.html

- On the research side of prop224, we improved the spec and applied the cell
  format changes that were discussed in the "Revisiting prop224 cells" thread:
   https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-dev/2016-March/010534.html
   https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-dev/2016-April/010713.html

  We merged some additional prop224 fixes:
   https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/18607

  We also started the next round of prop224 discussions about HSDir time
  periods and HS descriptor uploads/downloads:
   https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-dev/2016-April/010719.html

- We continued research and development on better guard algorithms (prop259).
  A prototype branch has been written by the STRIKE team and we now need to
  review the code and design, as well as test it and improve its codebase:
   https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-dev/2016-April/010714.html
   https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-dev/2016-April/010773.html

- We discussed what's the right way for HS operators to configure the "Single
  Onion Services" feature, without confusing other operators into harming their
  anonymity:
   https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-dev/2016-April/010741.html

- Seems like the onion addresses of proposal 224 will kill the "onioncat"
  functionality that allowed non-TCP traffic to be transfered over hidden
  services. A discussion was started on how onioncat could work in prop224:
   https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-dev/2016-April/010838.html
   https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-dev/2016-April/010847.html
  
- We accepted a GSoC student that will work on improving the Ahmia hidden
  service search engine:
   https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-dev/2016-April/010832.html

  We also accepted a GSoC student that will work on developing the "Tails
  server" functionality for Tails, that will allow people to setup hidden
  services easily and securely:
   https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-dev/2016-April/010822.html