[tor-project] Joydeep's Monthly Status Report for January 2022

Fri Feb 4 18:40:51 UTC 2022

Hello everyone!

This is my monthly status report for January, 2022.

This month much of my user support work was concentrated around the three Tor
Browser releases (11.0.4 for Desktop [1], 11.5.a2 for Desktop [2], 11.5.a3 for
Android [3]), internet shutdown in Kazakhstan [4] and Tor censorship in Russia
[5]. For the latter two, I have mostly been helping out with users reporting
issues related to Tor Browser and little-t tor. Near the end of month, we also
launched a Telegram support channel for users in Russia and I have been working
on testing and evaluating our new cdr.link instance [6] from a long term user
support perspective. This is ongoing work so definitely stay tuned for more
updates!

As we wrapped up the year-end campaign [7], we generate lot of interest and
support requests from users and supporters of Tor. This month, I resolved all
of the tickets we had in this regard on frontdesk. Apart from this, I have been
continuing my work moderating and helping users on the Forum
(forum.torproject.net), our IRC/Matrix channels and social media platforms.

# Frontdesk

Timeline : 01 Jan - 31 Jan 2021

Tickets:

new: 12
open: 17
resolved: 1711

Breakdown of number of RT tickets received with respect to operating system:

(Note: This includes tickets where the user mentioned the operating system or
it was evident from the issue they were running into and/or enclosed
screenshots.)

Windows - 17
macOS - 11
GNU/Linux - 3
Android- 8

Breakdown of most frequent tickets (at least 3 RT tickets):

1. 857 RT Tickets - How to use Tor Bridges in Russia. [5]

2. 452 RT Tickets - Internet shutdown in Kazakhstan: how to circumvent
   censorship with Tor. [4]

3. 75 RT Tickets - Submissions for 'Help Censored Users, Run a Tor Bridge'
   campaign. [8]

4. 16 RT Tickets - Private Bridge requests. This is not related to the .ru
   censorship but requests from Tor users in China, Iran, etc. [9]

5. 6 RT Tickets - Tor Browser incompatible with older versions of macOS. [10]

6. 5 RT Tickets - Missing features in Tor Browser on first-time launch in
   macOS/Windows. [11]

7. 4 RT Tickets - Issues with downloading files on Tor Browser for Android.
   [12]

# Tor Forum

Most popular topics (in terms of views) after January 2022:

1. Internet shutdown in Kazakhstan: how to circumvent censorship with Tor. [4]

2. "Gah. Your tab just crashed" (Tor Browser 11-11.0.2 crashing on certain
   websites). [13]

3. "Torrent imitation" (Imitate Tor traffic to be similar to torrent traffic).
   [14]

4. (How to) Check if a bridge is broken using the terminal. [15]

5. Problems with GitHub.com registration CAPTCHA and Tor Browser [16]

If you have any suggestions, questions or want to discuss anything in detail
please feel free to get in touch.

Thanks,

-- Joydeep

[1]: https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-1104/
[2]: https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-115a2/
[3]: https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-115a3/
[4]: https://forum.torproject.net/t/internet-shutdown-in-kazakhstan-how-to-circumvent-censorship-with-tor/1679/2
[5]: https://forum.torproject.net/t/tor-blocked-in-russia-how-to-circumvent-censorship/982
[6]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/community/support/-/issues/40059
[7]: https://blog.torproject.org/fundraising-2021-results/
[8]: https://blog.torproject.org/wrapping-up-bridges-campaign/
[9]: https://support.torproject.org/censorship/connecting-from-china/
[10]: https://forum.torproject.net/t/version-of-tor-browser-compatible-with-macos-10-11/1038
[11]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/40679
[12]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/fenix/-/issues/40192
[13]: https://forum.torproject.net/t/gah-your-tab-just-crashed/1614/10
[14]: https://forum.torproject.net/t/torrent-imitation/1733/6
[15]: https://forum.torproject.net/t/check-if-a-bridge-is-broken-using-the-terminal/1662/5
[16]: https://forum.torproject.net/t/problems-with-github-com-registration-captcha-and-tor-browser/1717/6