Hello,
The OONI team is excited to let you know that we just published our
first short film!
Our 5-minute documentary is called "ParkNet: Exploring Internet
Censorship in Cuba".
* About the film:
https://ooni.torproject.org/post/parknet-short-documentary-cuba/
* Watch the film on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QslsL84jx4E
Last year we traveled to Cuba to explore its internet landscape. You
might remember that we published a research report on our findings:
https://ooni.torproject.org/post/cuba-internet-censorship-2017/
Today we publish this short film to share some of our key findings and
to provide a feel of Cuba's unique internet landscape. We also wanted to
experiment with the idea of presenting censorship findings with video.
Our OONI YouTube channel will feature new and exciting content over the
next months. Subscribe to receive updates:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQhDgj9wBf4_w5bWFvLlq-w?sub_confirmation=1
Thanks for watching!
Cheers,
OONI team.
--
Maria Xynou
Research and Partnerships Coordinator
Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI)
https://ooni.torproject.org/
PGP Key Fingerprint: 2DC8 AFB6 CA11 B552 1081 FBDE 2131 B3BE 70CA 417E
Hello,
I'm sending this email as a reminder that OONI's April community
meeting will take place tomorrow.
Where: https://slack.openobservatory.org (OONI Slack channel) or #ooni
on IRC
When: Tuesday, 24th April 2018 at 14:00 UTC (for 1 hour)
Please add topics that you would like to discuss as part of the meeting
here: https://pad.riseup.net/p/ooni-community-meeting
Looking forward to connecting with you tomorrow!
Cheers,
Maria.
--
Maria Xynou
Research and Partnerships Coordinator
Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI)
https://ooni.torproject.org/
PGP Key Fingerprint: 2DC8 AFB6 CA11 B552 1081 FBDE 2131 B3BE 70CA 417E
Hello,
The OONI team warmly welcomes you to join us next week for our monthly
community meeting.
Where: https://slack.openobservatory.org/ (OONI Slack channel)
When: Tuesday, 24th April 2018 at 14:00 UTC (for 1 hour)
We'd love to hear your thoughts and suggestions on how we can improve
our tools and research methodologies.
Please add topics that you would like to discuss as part of the meeting
in this pad: https://pad.riseup.net/p/ooni-community-meeting
If you're not able to join us, please feel encouraged to join us on
Slack or IRC any other day!
Looking forward to connecting with you soon!
All the best,
~ The OONI team.
--
Maria Xynou
Research and Partnerships Coordinator
Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI)
https://ooni.torproject.org/
PGP Key Fingerprint: 2DC8 AFB6 CA11 B552 1081 FBDE 2131 B3BE 70CA 417E
Hello Oonitarians,
Over the last months, the OONI team has had the opportunity to
participate at a number of conferences and events in Africa, India and
Europe.
You can learn more (and find the slides and notes) via our latest blog
post:
https://ooni.torproject.org/post/ooni-in-africa-india-europe-conferences/
Cheers,
Maria.
--
Maria Xynou
Research and Partnerships Coordinator
Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI)
https://ooni.torproject.org/
PGP Key Fingerprint: 2DC8 AFB6 CA11 B552 1081 FBDE 2131 B3BE 70CA 417E
Hello,
Today OONI and Sierra Leone's Campaign for Human Rights Development
International (CHRDI) published a joint research report examining the
network disruptions that occurred last weekend amid Sierra Leone's 2018
runoff elections.
Our report is available here:
https://ooni.torproject.org/post/sierra-leone-network-disruptions-2018-elec…https://twitter.com/OpenObservatory/status/981899863012139008
Throughout the election period, we have been coordinating on the
collection and analysis of OONI Probe network measurements. OONI data
did not show any signs of internet censorship, but the testing of
WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger indicated some form of performance
degradation on the network.
Last weekend, locals reported that an internet blackout occurred
following the runoff elections, so we referred to third party data
sources to investigate further.
Google traffic and BGP announcement data aggregated and published by
RIPE show that two network disruptions occurred in Sierra Leone last
weekend:
1. In the early hours of 30th March 2018 (before the runoff elections)
2. Late at night on 31st March 2018 and in the early hours of 1st April
2018 (after the runoff elections)
We reached out to Sierra Leone Cable Company (SALCAB), Africell, Orange,
and ACE to better understand how and why the two network disruptions
occurred.
So far, we have only received a reply from the Vice Chair of ACE, who
claims that the network disruption was caused by an ACE submarine cable
cut and that they did not receive any government orders to switch off
the internet.
SALCAB has also released a public statement, denying reports regarding
government orders to shut down the internet, and arguing that the
network disruptions were caused by issues pertaining to the cable cut.
It's worth highlighting though that the two network disruptions appear
to be different.
In the first case, Google traffic and BGP data only show a partial
disruption (with only a few ASNs and subnets affected), and neighboring
Guinea and Liberia appear to have been affected as well. This could be
explained by the ACE cable cut.
In the second case however, Google traffic shows a complete drop in
traffic from Sierra Leone to Google Search, while BGP data shows that
most prefixes were withdrawn. No neighboring countries appear to be
affected by the second disruption, even though it was more severe than
the first. This suggests that an internet blackout likely occurred.
We will update our report when/if we receive further information from
the providers we reached out to.
Thanks for reading, and please feel encouraged to share any information
you may have on this case.
Thank you.
~ OONI team.
**
--
Maria Xynou
Research and Partnerships Coordinator
Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI)
https://ooni.torproject.org/
PGP Key Fingerprint: 2DC8 AFB6 CA11 B552 1081 FBDE 2131 B3BE 70CA 417E
Hello,
It's 404 day and I'd like to announce that the OONI team is creating a
new methodology for investigating internet blackouts worldwide!
OONI Probe is designed to measure various forms of censorship, but
internet blackouts (i.e. when the internet is switched off completely)
is not currently one of them. We have therefore relied on third party
data sources (such as Google traffic and BGP announcement data published
by RIPE) to investigate internet blackouts. While these data sources are
extremely useful, the problem is that it's challenging to drill down to
internet blackouts that occur on a regional level, and to collect more
fine-grained metrics.
We therefore thought: Why not engage our existing, global OONI Probe
community to investigate internet blackouts on the ground?
To this end, we're experimenting with the creation of a new methodology
that will be included in future OONI Probe mobile app releases, enabling
community members to participate in internet blackout investigations.
If you're interested in learning all the technical details (and the
reasoning behind our choices), please read our documentation:
https://ooni.torproject.org/post/investigating-internet-blackouts/Investiga…
Otherwise, please read our announcement blog
(https://ooni.torproject.org/post/investigating-internet-blackouts/) and
share the word
(https://twitter.com/OpenObservatory/status/981554659763638273).
This methodology is quite experimental. We'd appreciate any feedback you
can provide!
Thanks,
Maria (on behalf of the OONI team).
--
Maria Xynou
Research and Partnerships Coordinator
Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI)
https://ooni.torproject.org/
PGP Key Fingerprint: 2DC8 AFB6 CA11 B552 1081 FBDE 2131 B3BE 70CA 417E