[tor-project] Anti-censorship team monthly report: July and August 2021

[Cecylia Bocovich]

Hi everyone,

This is what we've been up to during July and August!

Snowflake
=========

* Adjusted Snowflake session layer parameters for better performance.

https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snowflake/-/merge_requests/48

* Added support for an AMP cache rendezvous to Snowflake. It is not
being used yet, but is available if needed as an alternative to domain
fronting rendezvous.

https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snowflake/-/merge_requests/50

* Updated the web proxy for new browser requirements.

https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snowflake-webext/-/merge_requests/20

* Made the Snowflake client accept configuration in the form of SOCKS
arguments (in preference to command-line options). This makes it easier
to control the configuration in frontends such as Tor Browser's.

https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snowflake/-/merge_requests/53

* Assign proxies based on their client load

https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snowflake/-/issues/40048

* Wait pollInterval in snowflake between proxy offers

https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snowflake/-/issues/40055

* Improved Snowflake documentation and READMEs

https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snowflake/-/merge_requests/49


BridgeDB
========

* change bridgedb to send obfs4 bridges by default over email

https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/bridgedb/-/issues/40019

* Allowed BridgeDB to see the IP address of moat clients

https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/bridgedb/-/issues/32276


rdsys
=====

* Integrate GetTor into rdsys

https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/rdsys/-/issues/32

* Add GetTor documentation

https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/rdsys/-/issues/44

* Run tests in the CI

https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/rdsys/-/issues/58


Other
=====

* Investigated changes in user metrics in Turkmenistan.

https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/community/support/-/issues/40030#note_2747497

* Bridgestrap CollecTor metrics

https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/bridgestrap/-/issues/15

* Set up reachability probes for Tor in Turkey

https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/censorship-analysis/-/issues/40007