[tor-project] sajolida's report, September 2024

[sajolida <sajolida@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

September was again more busy than average to respect the timeline of 
Project 101 (Tor VPN) and Tails releases.

Tor VPN
=======

- I analyzed the usability test of Tor VPN 0.6.2 that I did in August.

  https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/ux/research/-/issues/69

  In short, the usability of Tor VPN 0.6.2 is decent when people don't
  need to use a bridge, but very bad when Tor is blocked. None of the
  participant managed to use a bridge on their own.

  The main issues are unclear system status and confusing network model.

  Quotes:

  “Tor is like a bridge.“ — P5

  “I'm looking for bridges that make it like if I were in
  Switzerland.“ — P4

  “It should say: You are being blocked! With Tor you can bypass
  this censorship using a bridge.“ ­— P6

  Summary of findings:


https://gitlab.torproject.org/-/project/92/uploads/1fba8220a110622d852bf4486c139538/P101_Usability_testing_of_Tor_VPN_0.6.2.pdf

  List of all issues:

  https://nc.torproject.net/s/fXbRYw76pTXJZym

  Video clips:

  https://nc.torproject.net/f/645757

- I created GitLab issues to document the most severe issues:

  Improve feedback while "Connecting"
  https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/vpn/-/issues/181

  Clarify connection status on all screens
  https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/vpn/-/issues/182

  Allow changing exit location from Configure menu
  https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/vpn/-/issues/185

  Improve discoverability of the list of countries
  https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/vpn/-/issues/186

  Clarify what can be tapped in the Bridges screen
  https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/vpn/-/issues/187

  Remove the need to press Enter when entering a bridge line
  https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/vpn/-/issues/188

  Clarify which bridge is being used (eg. after Bridge Bot)
  https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/vpn/-/issues/189

  Improve discoverability of the circuit view
  https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/vpn/-/issues/190

  Allow configuring only a single bridge
  https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/vpn/-/issues/193

  Rethink how the different relays are named
  https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/vpn/-/issues/194

  Clarify just enough about the network model
  https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/vpn/-/issues/195

  Don't allow changing exit location unless already connected
  https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/vpn/-/issues/196

  Report loss of connectivity to the Tor network
  https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/core/onionmasq/-/issues/110

- I started brainstorming solutions to all of these issues with Duncan
  and the rest of the UX team.

Tails
=====

I wrote some documentation to help users with recent issues:

- Shim SBAT verification error (#20471)

  https://tails.net/news/version_6.7/#sbat

- Provide fsck from Welcome Screen when the file system of the
  Persistent Storage is corrupted (#15451)

  https://gitlab.tails.boum.org/tails/tails/-/merge_requests/1586

  This one was a LOT of work to figure out which data forensics path we
  should recommend to users and document the main ones step-by-step.

--
sajolida
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