16:00:03 <onyinyang> #startmeeting tor anti-censorship meeting
16:00:03 <MeetBot> Meeting started Thu Jul 11 16:00:03 2024 UTC.  The chair is onyinyang. Information about MeetBot at http://wiki.debian.org/MeetBot.
16:00:03 <MeetBot> Useful Commands: #action #agreed #help #info #idea #link #topic.
16:00:03 <onyinyang> hello everyone!
16:00:03 <onyinyang> here is our meeting pad: [https://pad.riseup.net/p/r.9574e996bb9c0266213d38b91b56c469](https://pad.riseup.net/p/r.9574e996bb9c0266213d38b91b56c469)
16:00:07 <shelikhoo> hi~
16:00:38 <meskio> hello
16:00:57 <theodorsm> hi!
16:03:33 <ggus> can someone share the pad link with me in pvt?
16:03:44 * meskio goes to do that
16:03:51 <onyinyang> thanks meskio
16:04:43 <onyinyang> it seems like there's not too much to discuss today but i'll give ggus a minute :)
16:05:56 <meskio> in the meant time: we will not have a meeting next week, most of the team will be at PETS
16:06:30 <shelikhoo> yes
16:07:35 <onyinyang> ok let's start
16:08:11 <onyinyang> The first topic, is Censorship in Russia
16:08:33 <ggus> i added that
16:08:55 <ggus> it seems RKN is starting to block some tor resources
16:09:25 <ggus> more recently they blocked some vpn apps in app store
16:09:56 <ggus> and if you use applecensorship site, you will see some tor apps blocked
16:10:00 <ggus> "tor"
16:10:08 <ggus> tob browser was blocked
16:10:53 <shelikhoo> I believe in reality these censor agencies just use keyword search and send demand letters
16:11:00 <ggus> yes
16:11:44 <ggus> they also emailed google about removing tor apps from play store
16:12:01 <meskio> does google complay with those requests?
16:12:08 <ggus> dunno
16:13:07 <ggus> in apple case, changing the apple id to another country seems to work: https://github.com/net4people/bbs/issues/377#issuecomment-2223302357
16:13:41 <shelikhoo> be aware that apple restrict users from creating an account that does not match their IP address
16:14:13 <shelikhoo> so it is not like the user could just switch the account
16:14:26 <shelikhoo> and often these VPN apps requires payment
16:14:49 <shelikhoo> so it will create some kind of barrier
16:15:34 <ggus> i was thinking in possible workarounds for orbot/onion browser in ios
16:17:28 <shelikhoo> maybe we could have a guide or something like that about how to create an apple account in another region?
16:18:05 <ggus> maybe frontline defenders already have that, i'll check
16:18:36 <shelikhoo> yes...
16:20:10 <ggus> should we create a new ticket for ongoing situation in russia in censorship-analysis?
16:20:14 <ggus> 2024 edition
16:21:23 <meskio> mmm, up to you, if is just the app stores being blocked I'm not sure how much we'll be able to help from the anti-censorship team
16:21:42 <meskio> but feel free to open it, that might be a warning of more things to come
16:22:06 <ggus> well, if you click on ntc.party link, you will see that they are also blocking bridges
16:22:26 <meskio> ohh, I see this link, mmm
16:23:26 <ggus> and it seems they fixed their blocking rule and *.torproject.org subdomains are blocked too
16:23:42 <meskio> yes, create the issue with all those info then
16:23:55 <ggus> ok!
16:26:14 <meskio> I think we are done with this topic
16:26:35 <onyinyang> ok let's move on to interesting links
16:27:00 <onyinyang> the first is theodorsm's thesis:
16:27:01 <onyinyang> https://theodorsm.net/thesis
16:27:21 <onyinyang> congrats on finishing this theodorsm :D
16:27:28 <theodorsm> Thanks!
16:27:29 <meskio> yeah!! pretty cool
16:27:40 <shelikhoo> hehe! congrats!
16:28:25 <meskio> I see theodorsm you are adding the thesis to our reading group, will be nice to discuss it but 55 pages (without appendixes) looks a bit too long for it
16:28:39 <meskio> I wonder if we could do a chapter or few
16:28:56 <theodorsm> Yes, I understand that is a bit too long
16:29:02 <onyinyang> or if there's any related paper?
16:29:37 <theodorsm> I am working on condensing it into a paper
16:30:07 <meskio> maybe we can wait for that paper to add it to our reading group
16:30:11 <theodorsm> So any feedback would be appreaciated, but it will probably take a month or so to compelete the paper
16:31:57 <meskio> I hope to have a look to your thesis on the comming days, but not sure I'll be able to do any deep reading soon
16:32:23 <onyinyang> that's no problem theodorsm, please let us know whenever it's ready and we'd be happy to discuss it in the reading group
16:32:55 <theodorsm> Thanks, ofc take your time, no rush! @meskio
16:33:01 <meskio> we should check FOCI papers for our reading group, but maybe better wait for august when more people is around
16:33:46 <meskio> I'll love to hear from the people attending what will be worth it from there, I'll miss FOCI :'(
16:34:10 <onyinyang> me too :(
16:34:11 <theodorsm> Would it be relevant to send out the thesis with the mailing list or should I wait for the paper?
16:34:37 <shelikhoo> hehe! I will share what I saw at FOCI!
16:34:57 <meskio> theodorsm: I think is a good idea to send an email with a link to your thesis to our mailing list
16:35:18 <meskio> (or do you mean somewhere else)
16:35:21 <theodorsm> @mesiko, ok will do.
16:35:46 <meskio> thanks
16:36:30 <onyinyang> ok the final item in the interesting links is:     https://forum.torproject.org/t/snowflake-daily-operations-june-2024-update/13472
16:37:48 <meskio> :)
16:38:00 <meskio> happy to see snowflake bridge being stable and working
16:38:28 <onyinyang> \o/
16:38:34 <shelikhoo> ^~^
16:39:36 <onyinyang> I think that's it for our meeting today unless anyone has any final thoughts/comments/concerns?
16:39:55 <meskio> nothing from me
16:40:14 <shelikhoo> eof
16:40:35 <theodorsm> tnx for the meeting!
16:40:40 <onyinyang> ok cool, enjoy FOCI/PETS next week for everyone that's attending!
16:40:44 <onyinyang> #endmeeting