[tor-project] ebanam's monthly status report and user support report for August 2024

[ebanam]

Hello everyone!

Last month, we saw a massive uptick in user support requests coming from
Russian and Chinese speaking users. To put it in numbers, we answered a
little over 1100 unique user support requests across our various user
support channels. This can be attributed to the latest developments[0]
in Tor censorship in Russia and continued outreach work aimed towards
Chinese speaking audience[1] respectively. Since a majority of these
requests are from users in regions where Tor is censored, it has
involved helping users to download (using mirrors and GetTor) and
install Tor Browser, using censorship circumvention methods that will
work best for them, gathering feedback and general troubleshooting.

I dedicated some time testing the latest Tor Browser Alpha releases and
answered a number of Tor Browser related user support tickets.

Here's a more detailed breakdown of the tickets our user support team
worked on last month:

# Frontdesk (email support channel)

* 762(↑) RT tickets created
* 672(↑) RT tickets resolved

Tickets by numbers:

1. 350(↑) RT tickets: private bridge requests from Chinese speaking
users.
2. 237(↑) RT tickets: circumventing censorship in Russian
speaking countries.
3. 5 RT tickets: Reports of onion services (not
maintained by Tor Project) not working. We ask users to report to the
respective onion service operator.
4. 3(↓) RT tickets: Circumventing censorship with Tor in Farsi.

Highlighting some other topics we received questions and feedback:

5. 4 RT tickets: Help with troubleshooting Tor Browser install on
Windows.
6. 3 RT tickets: Reports of websites blocking Tor.
7. 2 RT tickets: Help with installing Tor Browser install on Linux.
8. Help with installing Tor Browser on macOS.
9. Question about contributing to Tor.

# Telegram, WhatsApp and Signal Support channel

* 751(↑) tickets resolved

Breakdown:
* 734(↑) tickets on Telegram
* 17(↓) tickets on WhatsApp
* 0(↓) ticket on Signal

Tickets by numbers:

1. 542(↑) tickets: circumventing censorship in Russian speaking
countries.
2. 46(↓) tickets: circumventing censorship with Tor in Farsi.
3. 27(↑) tickets: private bridge requests from Chinese speaking users.
4. 22(↑) tickets: helping users on iOS, using Onion Browser or Orbot, to
use censorship circumvention methods.

Highlighting some other topics we received questions about:

5. 10(↑) tickets: instructions on how to get Tor Browser binaries from
GetTor.
6. 2 tickets: Questions about what onion services are and how to
access them.
7. 2 tickets: Help with troubleshooting Tor Browser install
on Linux.
8. Help with troubleshooting Tor Browser install on macOS.

# Highlights from the Tor Forum

1. Issues connecting to Tor with bridges from Russia.[2]
2. 'lyrebird' in Tor Browser.[3]
3. Bookmarks in Tor Browser.[4]

Thanks!
e.

[0]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/censorship-analysis/-/issues/40046
[1]: https://github.com/torproject/tor4zh
[2]: https://forum.torproject.org/t/does-anyone-have-issues-with-the-connection-trough-bridges-especially-those-from-russia/13931
[3]: https://forum.torproject.org/t/lyrebird-can-prevent-tor-browser-from-working/14178
[4]: https://forum.torproject.org/t/security-hole-with-bookmarks/14266
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