13:59:03 <antonela> #startmeeting ux team monthly sync
13:59:03 <MeetBot> Meeting started Tue Sep  1 13:59:03 2020 UTC.  The chair is antonela. Information about MeetBot at http://wiki.debian.org/MeetBot.
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13:59:09 <antonela> Hello!
13:59:18 <antonela> anyone around for the ux sync?
13:59:44 <antonela> i know thurayya is traveling this week
14:00:02 * antonela looks for the pad
14:00:05 <antonela> https://pad.riseup.net/p/1D8sK8Zy74b_0qclC97I-ux-team-monthly-2020-keep
14:00:23 <antonela> hey T0_7_ o/
14:00:29 <antonela> thanks for joining :)
14:01:10 <T0_7_> Happy to be here!
14:01:48 <antonela> so, we reduced this meetings to monthly sync, i've been trying to keep this space as a sharing space of what we have been doing and update interested people on our ongoing projects
14:01:57 <antonela> let me start with a quick update
14:02:37 <antonela> first of all, we have been working with simply secure on improving the metrics website
14:02:44 <antonela> metrics.torproject.org/
14:03:28 <antonela> at this phase, we released a survey to collect feedback about the current usage of the metrics portal
14:03:48 <antonela> if anyone here has been using metrics before, please jump into the poll! is a short one and is very valuable for us
14:04:01 * antonela drops the link https://tools.simplysecure.org/survey/index.php?r=survey/index&sid=39865&lang=en
14:05:23 <antonela> second item, we are going to have Tor Demos during our All hands at the last week of September -  If people here have an idea, a wip, a concept, a large, small, secret, public, whatever project around tor and would like to share, demos is the format
14:05:43 <antonela> list your self here ° https://pad.riseup.net/p/tor-monthly-hall-demos-august-september-2020-keep
14:07:13 <antonela> so, finally, T0_7_ i'd like to save for the records some of our conversation from last time, for you to share some insights about the reporting and also open for discuss anything that need review for your final version
14:08:34 <T0_7_> Ok, Should I go ahead now?
14:08:43 <antonela> yes, please
14:08:53 <T0_7_> Ok
14:09:55 <T0_7_> I've been studying how people in four African countries used Internet censorship circumvention tools - Cameroon, Nigeria, Uganda and Zimbabwe
14:10:09 <T0_7_> Some of my findings include:
14:11:08 <T0_7_> 1. Civil society plays a huge role in helping people mobilize circumvention tools in these 4 countries. But also political groups and local tech businesses
14:12:52 <T0_7_> 2. Most people interviewed (17 out of 33 interviewees) used VPNs on their mobile, where they experienced censorship. Most had at least 2 VPNs on their mobile phones.
14:13:21 <T0_7_> So they switched from one to another based on how effectively they worked
14:14:25 <T0_7_> The most important predictor of VPN use was community recommendation. People simply used the VPNs recommended to them by friends, family and colleagues
14:15:27 <T0_7_> However the rate of VPN consumption of data, ease of use, and speed of connectivity were also important factors for VPN use
14:16:09 <T0_7_> Some of the most important usability challenges faced by VPN users were:
14:16:20 <antonela> community trust is a key here, i liked that part
14:16:34 <antonela> i want to dig on section 7, usability challenges
14:16:50 <T0_7_> 1. VPNs cutting off after time-intervals, and asking people to re login
14:17:08 <antonela> because what is interesting there is how we can compare those issues people have with vpns with tor browser
14:17:16 <T0_7_> 2. The rapid consumption of data by some VPNs
14:17:27 <T0_7_> 3. Adds popping up up on some VPNs
14:17:30 <antonela> right, we still share some of those issues :)
14:17:53 <antonela> and the 4
14:18:08 <antonela> is authentication problems on accounts and services
14:18:08 <T0_7_> Ok
14:19:06 <antonela> something im interested in learn for tor brower is data usage, your research exposed how people get complicated with VPN's data caps
14:19:16 <T0_7_> Yes authentication challenges were important
14:19:42 <T0_7_> Yes, many people, especially in Cameroon were not aware of free VPNs like Tor
14:20:05 <T0_7_> So they were stuck with VPNs which stopped working after a data limit is reached
14:20:29 <antonela> right, that is a green point for Tor
14:20:32 <antonela> we dont have data caps
14:20:33 <antonela> BUT
14:20:39 <T0_7_> or after a session of browsing when a data limit is reached
14:21:29 <antonela> we have a different issue: some ISPs offer plans with FREE whatsapp data, FREE facebook data, and what it does is check your traffic to provide you that benefit
14:21:44 <antonela> (probably via DPI, but im not sure)
14:22:10 <T0_7_> Yes I found that people were generally knowlegable about Tor
14:22:10 <antonela> so, when people use Tor under those ISPs, they have consumption of data in those "free" plans
14:22:24 <T0_7_> I'm not aware of that Free data scheme in Africa
14:22:37 <antonela> that is very common in LATAM
14:22:43 <antonela> more and more ISPs are doing that
14:22:58 <antonela> so, Cameroon is a good place for outreach also Zimbawe
14:23:20 <T0_7_> In Africa although people knew about Tor, some complained about difficulty of using Tor. Even experts complained.
14:24:00 <antonela> right, everytime someone says that I ask them when was the last time they opened Tor Browser
14:24:17 <T0_7_> The security features of Tor seemed to affect their perception of its usability
14:24:30 <antonela> its true
14:24:51 <antonela> do you think it is still being seen as a technical tool?
14:25:12 <antonela> compared with a VPN you can download and press ON and that is it
14:25:14 <T0_7_> Another important finding was that people learnt to use tools like telegram, firechat and signal that were not blocked when other apps like WhatsApp and Facebook were blocked
14:25:40 <T0_7_> Exactly! They felt it was too technical!
14:25:41 <antonela> that is because people and community organize faster than governments :)
14:26:05 <antonela> (the msnging apps usage)
14:27:08 <antonela> ye, i think we have more work to do there, we always go so deep on why Tor is secure and others just reduce the narrative to "encrypted!"
14:27:25 <T0_7_> Exactly
14:27:32 <antonela> so, data caps is a good point for us
14:28:05 <T0_7_> sometimes honestly, some communities might just be looking for ''easy'' VPNs. However with no real safety
14:28:16 <T0_7_> Those who are really at risk learn to use Tor
14:28:25 <antonela> is true
14:28:33 <antonela> about slowness of access with vpns, is that related with the current bandwidth available in the country? or the quality is deprecated so badly?
14:28:48 <antonela> because of the bouncing or other reason?
14:28:54 <T0_7_> Yes, networks in Africa are not always fast
14:29:08 <antonela> right, and vpns make it worst
14:29:17 <T0_7_> So VPNs which work with these lean network resources are more widely adopted
14:29:50 <antonela> both in terms of traffic and in terms of data consumption
14:30:02 <T0_7_> Yes
14:30:11 <antonela> even with the perceived speed, that is a work for clients
14:30:37 <antonela> i wonder how Fenix has been improving there after the trials firefox has been doing with lite browsers in the past
14:30:41 <antonela> we will discover :)
14:30:50 <T0_7_> Ok
14:31:00 <antonela> Tunde, ads pop-ups is also a green point for us
14:31:03 <antonela> we dont have ads
14:31:06 <T0_7_> so that's a summary of my report
14:31:17 <antonela> and we should make it more explicit i think, is a great point
14:31:28 <T0_7_> I'll send the revised document for formating and design
14:31:34 <antonela> so yes, the report looks great
14:31:41 <antonela> please do it so we can work on the layout
14:31:48 <T0_7_> Thanks!
14:31:52 <antonela> when is the deadline for the presentation?
14:32:09 <antonela> i mean for the academic one
14:32:20 <T0_7_> September 15
14:33:25 <antonela> cool
14:33:59 <antonela> thanks Tunde for joining me today, i know you are with a lot of things going on at this moment so I appreciate it :)
14:34:21 <T0_7_> Happy to be here!
14:34:27 <antonela> I think that is all for today
14:34:35 <antonela> Thank you!
14:34:38 <antonela> #endmeeting