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Tor Weekly News December 11th, 2013
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Welcome to the twenty-fourth issue of Tor Weekly News, the weekly
newsletter that covers what is happening in the Tor community.
Introducing a new Lead Automation Engineer
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The Tor Project welcomed a new member, Nicolas Vigier, in the role of
Lead Automation Engineer. He swiftly got down to business by putting out
a callÂ[1] for automation-related feedback âfrom developers of any tor
componentsâ, promising a summary of âthe current status regarding build,
packaging, testing, and what should be doneâ to improve the automated
processes involved in Tor development, as well as âsome proposals and a
general plan for the work to be done during the coming monthsâ, an early
version of which is already onlineÂ[2]. A warm welcome to him!
[1]Âhttps://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-dev/2013-December/005906.html
[2]Âhttps://people.torproject.org/~boklm/automation/tor-automation-review.html
Freedom of the Press Foundation launch a support campaign for Tor
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In his report for NovemberÂ[3], Roger Dingledine wrote: âWe've also been
pondering lately how to do a fundraising or donations drive, to help
move us off our reliance on government funders.â The good news is that
Tor has many supporters.
The Freedom of the Press Foundation just started a campaign to support
encryption tools for journalistsÂ[4] that is going to last for two
months. The campaign is gathering funds for Tor core development work,
the TailsÂlive systemÂ[5], the encrypted mobile communication tools
RedPhone and TextSecureÂ[6], and the encrypted email platform LEAPÂ[7].
Spread the word and help make the campaign a successÂ[8]. Direct
donations to The Tor Project are also always possibleÂ[9].
[3]Âhttps://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-reports/2013-December/000396.html
[4]Âhttps://pressfreedomfoundation.org/blog/2013/12/freedom-press-foundation-launches-campaign-support-encryption-tools-journalists
[5]Âhttps://tails.boum.org/
[6]Âhttps://whispersystems.org/
[7]Âhttps://leap.se/
[8]Âhttps://pressfreedomfoundation.org/
[9]Âhttps://www.torproject.org/donate/
More monthly status reports for November 2013
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The wave of regular monthly reports from Tor project members for the
month of November continued, with reports from Roger DingledineÂ[3],
Georg KoppenÂ[10], Karsten LoesingÂ[11], Matt PaganÂ[12], Nicolas
VigierÂ[13] Philipp WinterÂ[14], Damian JohnsonÂ[15], and Noel David
Torres TaÃoÂ[16].
[10]Âhttps://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-reports/2013-December/000397.html
[11]Âhttps://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-reports/2013-December/000398.html
[12]Âhttps://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-reports/2013-December/000399.html
[13]Âhttps://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-reports/2013-December/000400.html
[14]Âhttps://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-reports/2013-December/000401.html
[15]Âhttps://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-reports/2013-December/000402.html
[16]Âhttps://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-reports/2013-December/000403.html
Miscellaneous news
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David Fifield has produced updated âpluggable transport bundlesâÂ[17]
based on the 2.4.18Âbrowser bundles. Be sure to upgrade!
[17]Âhttps://blog.torproject.org/blog/pluggable-transports-bundles-2418-rc-1-pt1-and-2418-rc-2-pt1-firefox-17011esr
David also announcedÂ[18] great progress in integrating our current set
of pluggable transports within the new Tor Browser 3 build
infrastructure.
[18]Âhttps://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-dev/2013-December/005913.html
Thanks to Himanshu from India, Andrew Lewman was able to deploy a new
scriptÂ[19] to list mirrors of the Tor Project's websiteÂ[20]. The new
code will ensure that mirrored files are â100% the same as those on
torproject.org (hashing, pgp signatures, etc)â and will remove and
re-instate mirrors accordingly.
[19]Âhttps://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-mirrors/2013-December/000394.html
[20]Âhttps://www.torproject.org/getinvolved/mirrors.html.en
Thanks BarkerJrÂ[21], DevRandomÂ[22], and UserzapÂ[23] for setting up
new mirrors!
[21]Âhttps://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-mirrors/2013-October/000381.html
[22]Âhttps://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-mirrors/2013-November/000384.html
[23]Âhttps://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-mirrors/2013-November/000389.html
Nathan Freitas announced that Orfox was going to replace OrwebÂ[24] in
the Guardian Project set of secure communication tools. Orfox is based
on the Firefox engine and is likely to behave more like the Tor Browser.
âHowever, Orfox is still very early (not alpha yet) and has not been
fully tested. I would either do your own testing and report back to us,
or only use the app for non sensitive/critical browsing for nowâ, Nathan
addedÂ[25].
[24]Âhttps://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-talk/2013-December/031331.html
[25]Âhttps://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-talk/2013-December/031340.html
arkmd reportedÂ[26] that TorBirdy was saving unencrypted drafts on the
remote server on their system. Sukhbir Singh has not been able to
reproduce the issue so farÂ[27] but he is thinking of disabling the
automatic save feature entirelyÂ[28].
[26]Âhttps://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-dev/2013-December/005901.html
[27]Âhttps://bugs.torproject.org/10309#comment:4
[28]Âhttps://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-dev/2013-December/005903.html
Christian announcedÂ[29] that GlobeÂis ânow officially hosted on the
torproject serversâ. Credits to Karsten Loesing and Peter Palfrader for
setting up the infrastructure. Have a lookÂat this new Tor relay and
bridge explorerÂ[30]!
[29]Âhttps://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-talk/2013-December/031353.html
[30]Âhttps://globe.torproject.org/
ghostmaker advertisedÂ[31] âa small new tool for Windows called
InjectSOCKS that can force other Windows software to do TCP connections
via SOCKS.â InjectSOCKS source code and binaries are available from the
project pageÂ[32].
[31]Âhttps://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-dev/2013-December/005908.html
[32]Âhttp://sourceforge.net/projects/injectsocks
The Tails team has issued a call for testing regarding incremental
upgradesÂ[33]Ââ one more step on the path to providing Tails users with
easy upgrades.
[33]Âhttps://tails.boum.org/news/test_incremental_upgrades/
The release schedule for Tails 0.22.1Â[34] has been published by
intrigeri. The expected release date for this point release is January
21th.
[34]Âhttps://mailman.boum.org/pipermail/tails-dev/2013-December/004405.html
Tor help desk roundup
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Multiple users have asked the help desk specifically for assistance with
IPv6 bridges. Currently getting IPv6 bridges is not too easy, but the
issue is knownÂ[35] and should be solved as the bridge distributor is
improved. IPv6 bridges are functional in (at least part of) China, but
we do not have many of them to distribute. Please set up an IPv6 bridge
if you can: it's only one âORPortâ line to addÂ[36] to the usual
configurationÂ[37].
[35]Âhttps://bugs.torproject.org/9127
[36]Âhttps://people.torproject.org/~linus/ipv6-relay-howto.html
[37]Âhttps://www.torproject.org/docs/bridges.html.en#RunningABridge
Upcoming events
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Dec 27-30 | Tor @ 30th Chaos Communication Congress
| Hamburg, Germany
| https://events.ccc.de/congress/2013/
This issue of Tor Weekly News has been assembled by Lunar, harmony,
dope457, Matt Pagan, Roger Dingledine and Karsten Loesing.
Want to continue reading TWN? Please help us create this newsletter.
We still need more volunteers to watch the Tor community and report
important news. Please see the project pageÂ[38], write down your
name and subscribe to the team mailing listÂ[39] if you want to
get involved!
[38]Âhttps://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/TorWeeklyNews
[39]Âhttps://lists.torproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/news-team
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