[tor-bugs] #22369 [Metrics/Censorship analysis]: Increase of users in Ukraine due to block of Russia-based services

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#22369: Increase of users in Ukraine due to block of Russia-based services
-----------------------------------------+------------------------------
 Reporter:  dcf                          |          Owner:  metrics-team
     Type:  project                      |         Status:  new
 Priority:  Medium                       |      Milestone:
Component:  Metrics/Censorship analysis  |        Version:
 Severity:  Normal                       |     Resolution:
 Keywords:  censorship block ua          |  Actual Points:
Parent ID:                               |         Points:
 Reviewer:                               |        Sponsor:
-----------------------------------------+------------------------------

Comment (by dcf):

 A large fraction of the increase may be attributable to the use of
 [https://freeu.online/ FreeU Browser], a browser containing Tor. The
 browser was produced by Mail.ru and prominently featured on VKontakte
 starting 2017-05-20.
  * https://tjournal.ru/44669-vkontakte-predlozhila-ukraincam-peredelannii-
 brauzer-amigo-s-tor-dlya-obhoda-blokirovok
 ([https://web.archive.org/web/20170524221422/https://tjournal.ru/44669
 -vkontakte-predlozhila-ukraincam-peredelannii-brauzer-amigo-s-tor-dlya-
 obhoda-blokirovok archive link])
 > Approximately on May 20, "VKontakte" began to offer users from Ukraine
 to install a desktop FreeU browser to bypass the locks of Russian social
 networks. ... The browser was also promoted with advertising posts in
 "VKontakte", "Twitter" and "Classmates", as well as through banners on
 YouTube. ... On its website FreeU is positioned as a browser "with access
 to blocked sites and social networks". ... As explained by TJ developer
 from a major Russian company, the code for FreeU shows that this is
 actually a reworked browser "Amigo" with built-in technology Tor.

 valdikss inspected the bundle and found a tor executable renamed to
 `freeu_helper`, along with `torrc` and other dependencies:
 [[Image(11pW7Vg.png)]]

 The article also says that the browser only unblocks some sites (maybe
 those operated by Mail.ru) and not others. Presumably they have a proxy
 configuration that only sends some domains through the tor proxy.
 > FreeU gives access only to blocked sites in Ukraine. If you use it in
 Russia, it does not give you access to resources included in the
 Roskomnadzor blacklist. In the "Amigo" function there is no circumvention
 of the restriction of access to sites and blocker advertising.

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Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/22369#comment:1>
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