tor-webwml.git

1) ## translation metadata

2) # Revision: $Revision$

3) # Translation-Priority: 4-optional
4) 
5) #include "head.wmi" TITLE="Tor: Volunteer" CHARSET="UTF-8"
6) <div id="content" class="clearfix">
7)   <div id="breadcrumbs">

8)     <a href="<page index>">Home &raquo; </a>

9)     <a href="<page getinvolved/volunteer>">Volunteer</a>
10)   </div>

11)   <div id="maincol">

12)     <!-- PUT CONTENT AFTER THIS TAG -->
13)     <h1>A few things everyone can do now:</h1>
14)     <ol>
15)     <li>Please consider <a href="<page docs/tor-doc-relay>">running
16)     a relay</a> to help the Tor network grow.</li>

17)     <li>Do you have an Amazon account? Are you willing to spend up to $3 a

18)     month? Then spin up your own Tor <a href="<page
19)     docs/bridges>">bridge</a> in less than 10 minutes with <a

20)     href="https://cloud.torproject.org/">tor cloud</a>!</li>

21)     <li>Tell your friends! Get them to run relays. Get them to run hidden
22)     services. Get them to tell their friends.</li>
23)     <li>If you like Tor's goals, please <a href="<page donate/donate>">take a moment
24)     to donate to support further Tor development</a>. We're also looking
25)     for more sponsors &mdash; if you know any companies, NGOs, agencies,
26)     or other organizations that want anonymity / privacy / communications
27)     security, let them know about us.</li>
28)     <li>We're looking for more <a href="<page about/torusers>">good examples of Tor
29)     users and Tor use cases</a>. If you use Tor for a scenario or purpose not
30)     yet described on that page, and you're comfortable sharing it with us,
31)     we'd love to hear from you.</li>
32)     </ol>

33) 

34)     <a id="Documentation"></a>
35)     <h2><a class="anchor" href="#Documentation">Documentation</a></h2>
36)     <ol>

37)     <li>Help translate the
38) <!-- web page and -->
39)     documentation into other

40)     languages. See the <a href="<page getinvolved/translation>">translation
41)     guidelines</a> if you want to help out. We especially need Arabic or
42)     Farsi translations, for the many Tor users in censored areas.</li>
43)     <li>Evaluate and document

44)     <a href="<wiki>doc/TorifyHOWTO">our

45)     list of programs</a> that can be configured to use Tor.</li>
46)     <li>We have a huge list of <a

47)     href="<wiki>doc/SupportPrograms">potentially useful

48)     programs that interface to Tor</a>. Which ones are useful in which
49)     situations? Please help us test them out and document your results.</li>
50)     </ol>

51) 

52)     <a id="Advocacy"></a>
53)     <h2><a class="anchor" href="#Advocacy">Advocacy</a></h2>
54)     <ol>

55)     <li>Create a presentation that can be used for various user group
56) meetings around the world.</li>

57)     <li>Create a video about the positive uses of Tor, what Tor is,
58)     or how to use it.  Some have already started on <a

59)     href="https://media.torproject.org/video/">Tor's Media server</a>,

60)     <a

61)     href="http://www.howcast.com/videos/90601-How-To-Circumvent-an-Internet-Proxy">Howcast</a>,

62)     and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/thetorproject">YouTube</a>.</li>

63)     <li>Create a poster, or a set of posters, around a theme,

64)     such as "Tor for Freedom!"</li>
65)     <li>Create a t-shirt design that incorporates "<a
66)     href="https://check.torproject.org/">Congratulations! You are using
67)     Tor!</a>" in any language.</li>

68)     </ol>

69) 

70) <!--

71)     <a id="gsoc"></a>
72)     <h2><a class="anchor" href="#gsoc">Google Summer of Code</a></h2>
73) 
74)     <p>
75)     Tor is also taking part in this year's <a
76)     href="https://www.google-melange.com/gsoc/homepage/google/gsoc2013">Google
77)     Summer of Code</a>! The criteria for this is a little different - either
78)     gender can apply but you need to be either <a
79)     href="https://www.google-melange.com/gsoc/document/show/gsoc_program/google/gsoc2013/help_page#2._Whos_eligible_to_participate_as_a">a
80)     present student or just graduated</a>.
81)     </p>
82) 
83)     <p>
84)     As mentioned above if you're eligible for either program then please apply
85)     for both! Google Summer of Code is a far, far larger program for us than
86)     OPW so your chances of being applied that way are considerably better.
87)     </p>
88) 
89)     <p>
90)     <b>See our page for <a href="<page about/gsoc>">Google Summer of Code</a>
91)     for more information.</b>
92)     </p>

93) -->

94) 

95)     <a id="Projects"></a>
96)     <h2><a class="anchor" href="#Projects">Projects</a></h2>

97) 

98)     <p>
99)     Below are a list of Tor related projects we're developing and/or
100)     maintaining. Most discussions happen on IRC so if you're interested in any
101)     of these (or you have a project idea of your own), then please <a

102)     href="<page about/contact>#irc">join us in #tor-dev</a>. Don't be shy
103)     to ask questions, and don't hesitate to ask even if the main contributors
104)     aren't active at that moment.

105)     </p>

106) 

107)     <table id="projects">
108)       <tr>
109)         <th>Name</th>
110)         <th>Category</th>
111)         <th>Language</th>
112)         <th>Activity</th>
113)         <th>Contributors</th>
114)       </tr>

115) 

116)       <tr>
117)         <td><a href="#project-tor">Tor</a></td>
118)         <td>Core</td>
119)         <td>C</td>
120)         <td>Heavy</td>

121)         <td>nickm, athena, arma</td>

122)       </tr>

123) 

124)       <tr>

125)         <td>*<a href="#project-jtor">JTor</a></td>
126)         <td>Core</td>
127)         <td>Java</td>

128)         <td>Moderate</td>

129)         <td>bleidl</td>
130)       </tr>
131) 
132)       <tr>

133)         <td><a href="#project-torbrowser">Tor Browser</a></td>

134)         <td>Bundle</td>

135)         <td>C, Scripting</td>

136)         <td>Moderate</td>

137)         <td>mikeperry, Erinn</td>

138)       </tr>

139) 

140)       <tr>

141)         <td><a href="#project-torbutton">Torbutton</a></td>
142)         <td>Browser Add-on</td>
143)         <td>Javascript</td>
144)         <td>Moderate</td>
145)         <td>mikeperry</td>

146)       </tr>

147) 

148)       <tr>

149)         <td><a href="#project-httpseverywhere">HTTPS Everywhere</a></td>
150)         <td>Browser Add-on</td>
151)         <td>Javascript</td>
152)         <td>Moderate</td>
153)         <td>pde, mikeperry</td>

154)       </tr>

155) 

156)       <tr>

157)         <td><a href="#project-vidalia">Vidalia</a></td>
158)         <td>User Interface</td>
159)         <td>C++, Qt</td>

160)         <td>None</td>

161)         <td>chiiph</td>
162)       </tr>

163) 

164)       <tr>

165)         <td><a href="#project-arm">Arm</a></td>
166)         <td>User Interface</td>
167)         <td>Python, Curses</td>

168)         <td>Light</td>

169)         <td>atagar</td>
170)       </tr>

171) 

172)       <tr>

173)         <td><a href="#project-orbot">Orbot</a></td>
174)         <td>User Interface</td>
175)         <td>Java</td>

176)         <td>Light</td>

177)         <td>n8fr8</td>

178)       </tr>

179) 

180)       <tr>

181)         <td><a href="#project-tails">Tails</a></td>
182)         <td>OS image</td>
183)         <td>Sys Admin</td>
184)         <td>Heavy</td>
185)         <td><a href="https://tails.boum.org/">#tails</a></td>

186)       </tr>

187) 

188)       <tr>

189)         <td><a href="#project-torramdisk">tor-ramdisk</a></td>
190)         <td>OS image</td>
191)         <td>Sys Admin</td>
192)         <td>Light</td>
193)         <td>blueness</td>
194)       </tr>
195) 

196)       <tr>

197)         <td>*<a href="#project-torouter">Torouter</a></td>
198)         <td>OS image</td>
199)         <td>Sys Admin</td>

200)         <td>None</td>

201)         <td>ioerror</td>
202)       </tr>
203) 

204)       <tr>

205)         <td><a href="#project-torsocks">Torsocks</a></td>
206)         <td>Usability</td>
207)         <td>C</td>

208)         <td>Light</td>

209)         <td>ioerror, nickm</td>
210)       </tr>
211) 

212)       <tr>

213)         <td><a href="#project-torbirdy">TorBirdy</a></td>
214)         <td>Browser Add-on</td>
215)         <td>JavaScript</td>
216)         <td>Heavy</td>
217)         <td>Sukhbir (sukhe), ioerror</td>
218)       </tr>

219) 

220)       <tr>

221)         <td><a href="#project-obfsproxy">Obfsproxy</a></td>
222)         <td>Client Add-on</td>

223)         <td>C, Python</td>
224)         <td>Moderate</td>
225)         <td>asn, nickm</td>

226)       </tr>
227) 

228)       <tr>

229)         <td><a href="#project-flash-proxy">Flash Proxy</a></td>
230)         <td>Client Add-on</td>
231)         <td>Python, JavaScript, Go</td>

232)         <td>Heavy</td>

233)         <td>dcf, aallai, jct</td>
234)       </tr>

235) 

236)       <tr>

237)         <td><a href="#project-shadow">Shadow</a></td>

238)         <td>Simulator</td>

239)         <td>C, Python</td>

240)         <td>Heavy</td>

241)         <td>robgjansen</td>
242)       </tr>

243) 

244)       <tr>

245)         <td><a href="#project-stem">Stem</a></td>

246)         <td>Library</td>
247)         <td>Python</td>
248)         <td>Heavy</td>

249)         <td>atagar</td>

250)       </tr>

251) 

252)       <tr>

253)         <td><a href="#project-txtorcon">Txtorcon</a></td>
254)         <td>Library</td>
255)         <td>Python, Twisted</td>

256)         <td>Heavy</td>

257)         <td>meejah</td>
258)       </tr>

259) 

260)       <tr>

261)         <td><a href="#project-tlsdate">Tlsdate</a></td>
262)         <td>Utility</td>
263)         <td>C</td>

264)         <td>Moderate</td>

265)         <td>ioerror</td>
266)       </tr>

267) 

268)       <tr>

269)         <td><a href="#project-metrics">Metrics</a></td>
270)         <td>Client Service</td>
271)         <td>Java</td>
272)         <td>Heavy</td>
273)         <td>karsten</td>
274)       </tr>

275) 

276)       <tr>

277)         <td><a href="#project-atlas">Atlas</a></td>
278)         <td>Client Service</td>
279)         <td>JavaScript</td>

280)         <td>Light</td>

281)         <td>hellais, karsten</td>

282)       </tr>

283) 

284)       <tr>

285)         <td><a href="#project-torstatus">TorStatus</a></td>
286)         <td>Client Service</td>

287)         <td>Python, Django</td>

288)         <td>None</td>
289)         <td></td>
290)       </tr>

291) 

292)       <tr>

293)         <td><a href="#project-compass">Compass</a></td>
294)         <td>Client Service</td>
295)         <td>Python</td>

296)         <td>Light</td>

297)         <td>gsathya, karsten, cwacek</td>

298)       </tr>

299) 

300)       <tr>

301)         <td><a href="#project-onionoo">Onionoo</a></td>
302)         <td>Backend Service</td>
303)         <td>Java, Python</td>

304)         <td>Light</td>

305)         <td>karsten, gsathya</td>
306)       </tr>
307) 

308)       <tr>

309)         <td><a href="#project-weather">Weather</a></td>
310)         <td>Client Service</td>
311)         <td>Python</td>

312)         <td>None</td>

313)         <td>kaner</td>
314)       </tr>

315) 

316)       <tr>

317)         <td><a href="#project-gettor">GetTor</a></td>
318)         <td>Client Service</td>
319)         <td>Python</td>

320)         <td>None</td>

321)         <td>kaner</td>

322)       </tr>

323) 

324)       <tr>

325)         <td><a href="#project-torcheck">TorCheck</a></td>
326)         <td>Client Service</td>
327)         <td>Python, Perl</td>
328)         <td>None</td>

329)         <td>ioerror</td>

330)       </tr>

331) 

332)       <tr>

333)         <td><a href="#project-bridgedb">BridgeDB</a></td>
334)         <td>Backend Service</td>
335)         <td>Python</td>

336)         <td>None</td>

337)         <td>kaner, nickm</td>

338)       </tr>

339) 

340)       <tr>

341)         <td><a href="#project-ooni-probe">Ooni Probe</a></td>

342)         <td>Scanner</td>
343)         <td>Python</td>

344)         <td>Heavy</td>

345)         <td>hellais, isis, ioerror</td>
346)       </tr>
347) 

348)       <tr>

349)         <td><a href="#project-torflow">TorFlow</a></td>
350)         <td>Backend Service</td>
351)         <td>Python</td>

352)         <td>None</td>

353)         <td>aagbsn, mikeperry</td>

354)       </tr>

355) 

356)       <tr>

357)         <td>*<a href="#project-torbel">TorBEL</a></td>
358)         <td>Backend Service</td>
359)         <td>Python</td>
360)         <td>None</td>
361)         <td>Sebastian</td>
362)       </tr>

363) 

364)       <tr>

365)         <td><a href="#project-tor2web">Tor2web</a></td>
366)         <td>Client Service</td>

367)         <td>Python</td>

368)         <td>Moderate</td>

369)         <td>hellais</td>

370)       </tr>

371) 

372)       <tr>

373)         <td><a href="#project-anonbib">Anonbib</a></td>
374)         <td>Website</td>

375)         <td>Python</td>

376)         <td>Light</td>
377)         <td>arma, nickm</td>
378)       </tr>
379) 

380)     </table>

381) 

382)     <sub>
383)     * Project is still in an alpha state.
384)     </sub>

385) 

386)     <br /><br />

387) 

388)     <a id="project-tor"></a>
389)     <h3>Tor (<a href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/tor.git">code</a>, <a

390)     href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/report/12">bug

391)     tracker</a>)</h3>

392) 

393)     <p>
394)     Central project, providing the core software for using and participating in
395)     the Tor network. Numerous people contribute to the project to varying
396)     extents, but the chief architects are Nick Mathewson and Roger Dingledine.
397)     </p>

398) 

399)     <p>
400)     <b>Project Ideas:</b><br />

401)     <i><a href="#limitCapabilities">Run With Limited Capabilities</a></i><br />
402)     <i><a href="#torCleanup">Tor Codebase Cleanup</a></i><br />

403)     <i><a href="#httpsImpersonation">HTTPS Server Impersonation</a></i><br />

404)     <i><a href="#chutneyExpansion">Make Chutney Do More, More Reliably</a></i>

405)     </p>

406) 

407)     <a id="project-jtor"></a>
408)     <h3><a href="https://github.com/brl/JTor/wiki">JTor</a> (<a

409)     href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/jtor.git">code</a>, <a

410)     href="https://github.com/brl/JTor/issues">bug
411)     tracker</a>)</h3>

412) 

413)     <p>
414)     Java implementation of Tor and successor to <a
415)     href="http://onioncoffee.sourceforge.net/">OnionCoffee</a>. This project
416)     isn't yet complete, and has been inactive since Fall 2010.
417)     </p>

418) 

419)     <a id="project-torbrowser"></a>

420)     <h3><a href="<page projects/torbrowser>">Tor Browser Bundle</a> (<a
421)     href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/torbrowser.git">code</a>, <a
422)     href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/query?status=accepted&status=assigned&status=needs_review&status=new&status=reopened&component=Tor+bundles/installation&order=priority">bug

423)     tracker</a>, <a href="https://www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser/design/">design doc</a>)</h3>
424) 

425)     <p>
426)     The Tor Browser Bundle is an easy-to-use portable package of Tor, Vidalia,

427)     Torbutton, and a Firefox fork preconfigured to work together out of

428)     the box. It contains a modified copy of Firefox that aims to resolve the
429)     privacy and security issues in mainline version.

430)     </p>

431) 
432)     <a id="project-torbutton"></a>
433)     <h3><a href="<page torbutton/index>">Torbutton</a> (<a
434)     href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/torbutton.git">code</a>, <a
435)     href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/query?status=accepted&status=assigned&status=needs_review&status=new&status=reopened&component=Torbutton&order=priority">bug

436)     tracker</a>)</h3>

437) 

438)     <p>

439)     Firefox addon that addresses many of the client-side threats to browsing
440)     the Internet anonymously. Mike has since continued to adapt it to new
441)     threats, updated versions of Firefox, and possibly <a
442)     href="https://blog.torproject.org/blog/google-chrome-incognito-mode-tor-and-fingerprinting">Chrome
443)     as well</a>.

444)     </p>

445) 
446)     <a id="project-httpseverywhere"></a>
447)     <h3><a href="https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere">HTTPS Everywhere</a> (<a
448)     href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/https-everywhere.git">code</a>, <a
449)     href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/report/19">bug

450)     tracker</a>)</h3>

451) 

452)     <p>

453)     HTTPS Everywhere is a Firefox and Chrome extension that encrypts
454)     your communications with many major websites, making your browsing
455)     more secure.

456)     </p>

457) 

458)     <a id="project-vidalia"></a>
459)     <h3><a href="<page projects/vidalia>">Vidalia</a> (<a

460)     href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/vidalia.git">code</a>, <a

461)     href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/query?status=accepted&status=assigned&status=needs_review&status=new&status=reopened&component=Vidalia&order=priority">bug
462)     tracker</a>)</h3>

463) 

464)     <p>
465)     The most commonly used user interface for Tor. Matt Edman started the
466)     project in 2006 and brought it to its current stable state. Development

467)     slowed for several years, though Tomás Touceda has since taken the
468)     lead with pushing the project forward.

469)     </p>

470) 

471)     <a id="project-arm"></a>
472)     <h3><a href="http://www.atagar.com/arm/">Arm</a> (<a

473)     href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/arm.git">code</a>, <a

474)     href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/query?status=accepted&status=assigned&status=needs_review&status=new&status=reopened&component=arm&order=priority">bug
475)     tracker</a>)</h3>

476) 

477)     <p>

478)     The anonymizing relay monitor (arm) is a terminal status monitor for Tor,
479)     intended for command-line aficionados, ssh connections, and anyone with a
480)     tty terminal. This works much like top does for system usage, providing
481)     real time statistics for bandwidth, resource usage, connections, and quite
482)     a bit more.

483)     </p>

484) 

485)     <a id="project-orbot"></a>
486)     <h3><a href="https://guardianproject.info/apps/orbot/">Orbot</a> (<a

487)     href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/orbot.git">code</a>, <a

488)     href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/query?status=accepted&status=assigned&status=needs_review&status=new&status=reopened&component=Orbot&order=priority">bug
489)     tracker</a>)</h3>

490) 
491)     <p>
492)     Provides Tor on the Android platform. This was under very active
493)     development up through Fall 2010, after which things have been quiet.
494)     </p>
495) 
496)     <a id="project-tails"></a>
497)     <h3><a href="https://tails.boum.org/">The Amnesic Incognito Live System</a> (<a
498)     href="http://git.immerda.ch/?p=amnesia.git;a=summary">code</a>, <a
499)     href="https://tails.boum.org/bugs/">bug
500)     tracker</a>)</h3>
501) 
502)     <p>
503)     The Amnesic Incognito Live System is a live CD/USB distribution
504)     preconfigured so that everything is safely routed through Tor and leaves no
505)     trace on the local system. This is a merger of the Amnesia and <a
506)     href="http://www.anonymityanywhere.com/incognito/">Incognito</a> projects,
507)     and still under very active development.
508)     </p>
509) 

510)     <a id="project-torramdisk"></a>
511)     <h3><a href="http://opensource.dyc.edu/tor-ramdisk">Tor-ramdisk</a> (<a

512)     href="http://opensource.dyc.edu/gitweb/?p=tor-ramdisk.git;a=summary">code</a>, <a
513)     href="http://opensource.dyc.edu/tor-ramdisk-documentation">documentation</a>)</h3>

514) 
515)     <p>

516)     Tor-ramdisk is a uClibc-based micro Linux distribution whose sole
517)     purpose is to securely host a Tor server purely in RAM.

518)     </p>
519) 

520)     <a id="project-torouter"></a>
521)     <h3><a
522)     href="<wiki>doc/Torouter">Torouter</a> (<a

523)     href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/torouter.git">code</a>, <a

524)     href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/query?status=accepted&status=assigned&status=needs_review&status=new&status=reopened&component=Torouter&order=priority">bug
525)     tracker</a>)</h3>
526) 
527)     <p>
528)     Project to provide an easy-to-use, embedded Tor instance for routers. This
529)     had high activity in late 2010, but has since been rather quiet.
530)     </p>
531) 
532)     <a id="project-torsocks"></a>

533)     <h3>Torsocks (<a

534)     href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/torsocks.git">code</a>, <a
535)     href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/query?status=accepted&status=assigned&status=needs_review&status=new&status=reopened&component=Torify&order=priority">bug
536)     tracker</a>)</h3>
537) 

538)     <p>

539)     Utility for adapting other applications to work with Tor. Development has
540)     slowed and compatibility issues remain with some platforms, but it's
541)     otherwise feature complete.

542)     </p>

543) 

544)     <a id="project-torbirdy"></a>
545)     <h3>TorBirdy (<a
546)     href="https://github.com/ioerror/torbirdy">code</a>, <a
547)     href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/torbirdy/dev">bug
548)     tracker</a>)</h3>

549) 

550)     <p>
551)     TorBirdy is Torbutton for Thunderbird and related Mozilla mail clients.
552)     </p>

553) 

554)     <a id="project-obfsproxy"></a>

555)     <h3><a href="<page projects/obfsproxy>">Obfsproxy</a> (<a

556)     href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/obfsproxy.git">C codebase</a>, <a
557)     href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/user/asn/pyobfsproxy.git">python
558)     codebase</a>, <a

559)     href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/query?status=accepted&status=assigned&status=needs_review&status=new&status=reopened&component=Pluggable+transport&order=priority">bug
560)     tracker</a>)</h3>

561) 

562)     <p>
563)     A proxy that shapes Tor traffic, making it harder for censors to detect and

564)     block Tor. This has both a C and python implementation.

565)     </p>

566) 

567)     <p>
568)     <b>Project Ideas:</b><br />
569)     <i><a href="#betterPluggableTransports">Build Better Pluggable Transports</a></i>
570)     </p>
571) 

572)     <a id="project-flash-proxy"></a>
573)     <h3><a href="https://crypto.stanford.edu/flashproxy/">Flash Proxy</a> (<a
574)     href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/flashproxy.git">code</a>, <a
575)     href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/query?status=accepted&status=assigned&status=needs_information&status=needs_review&status=needs_revision&status=new&status=reopened&component=Flashproxy">bug
576)     tracker</a>)</h3>

577) 

578)     <p>
579)     Pluggable transport using proxies running in web browsers to defeat
580)     address-based blocking.
581)     </p>

582) 

583)     <a id="project-shadow"></a>
584)     <h3><a href="https://shadow.cs.umn.edu/">Shadow</a> (<a
585)     href="https://github.com/shadow">code</a>, <a
586)     href="https://github.com/shadow/shadow/issues">bug
587)     tracker</a>)</h3>

588) 

589)     <p>
590)     Shadow is a discrete-event network simulator that runs the real
591)     Tor software as a plug-in. Shadow is open-source software that enables
592)     accurate, efficient, controlled, and repeatable Tor experimentation.

593)     For another simulator, see <a
594)     href="http://crysp.uwaterloo.ca/software/exptor/">ExperimenTor</a>.

595)     </p>

596) 

597)     <a id="project-stem"></a>

598)     <h3><a href="https://stem.torproject.org/">Stem</a> (<a

599)     href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/stem.git">code</a>, <a

600)     href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/doc/stem/bugs">bug

601)     tracker</a>)</h3>

602) 

603)     <p>

604)     Python controller library for scripts and controller applications using
605)     Tor.

606)     </p>

607) 

608)     <p>
609)     <b>Project Ideas:</b><br />

610)     <i><a href="#txtorcon-stemIntegration">Txtorcon/Stem Integration</a></i><br />

611)     <i><a href="#metrics-pyDoctor">PyDoctor</a></i><br />

612)     <i><a href="#stemUsability">Stem Usability and Porting</a></i><br />
613)     <i><a href="#stemTestingForTor">Stem Tests for Tor</a></i>

614)     </p>

615) 

616)     <a id="project-txtorcon"></a>
617)     <h3>Txtorcon (<a
618)     href="https://github.com/meejah/txtorcon">code</a>, <a
619)     href="https://txtorcon.readthedocs.org">docs</a>)</h3>

620) 

621)     <p>
622)     Twisted-based asynchronous Tor control protocol implementation. Includes
623)     unit-tests, examples, state-tracking code and configuration abstraction.
624)     Used by OONI and APAF.
625)     </p>

626) 

627)     <p>
628)     <b>Project Ideas:</b><br />
629)     <i><a href="#txtorcon-stemIntegration">Txtorcon/Stem Integration</a></i>
630)     </p>
631) 

632)     <a id="project-tlsdate"></a>
633)     <h3>Tlsdate (<a href="https://github.com/ioerror/tlsdate">code</a>)</h3>

634) 

635)     <p>
636)     tlsdate: secure parasitic rdate replacement
637)     </p>

638) 

639)     <p>
640)     tlsdate sets the local clock by securely connecting with TLS to remote
641)     servers and extracting the remote time out of the secure handshake. Unlike
642)     ntpdate, tlsdate uses TCP, for instance connecting to a remote HTTPS or TLS
643)     enabled service, and provides some protection against adversaries that try
644)     to feed you malicious time information.
645)     </p>

646) 

647)     <a id="project-metrics"></a>
648)     <h3><a href="https://metrics.torproject.org/">Metrics</a> (code: <a
649)     href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/metrics-db.git">db</a>, <a
650)     href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/metrics-utils.git">utils</a>, <a
651)     href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/metrics-web.git">web</a>, <a
652)     href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/query?status=accepted&status=assigned&status=needs_review&status=new&status=reopened&component=Metrics&order=priority">bug
653)     tracker</a>)</h3>

654) 

655)     <p>
656)     Processing and analytics of consensus data, provided to users via the
657)     metrics portal. This has been under active development for several years by

658)     Karsten Loesing. See also <a
659)     href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/torperf.git">TorPerf</a>.

660)     </p>

661) 

662)     <p>
663)     <b>Project Ideas:</b><br />

664)     <i><a href="#metrics-pyDoctor">PyDoctor</a></i><br />

665)     <i><a href="#metricsSearch">Searchable Tor descriptor and Metrics data archive</a></i> (Python/Django?)
666)     </p>

667) 

668)     <a id="project-atlas"></a>
669)     <h3><a href="https://atlas.torproject.org/">Atlas</a> (<a
670)     href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/atlas.git">code</a>)</h3>

671) 

672)     <p>
673)     Atlas is a web application to discover Tor relays and bridges. It provides
674)     useful information on how relays are configured along with graphics about
675)     their past usage. This is the third evolution of the TorStatus application.
676)     </p>

677) 

678)     <a id="project-torstatus"></a>

679)     <h3><a href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/org/roadmaps/TorStatus">TorStatus</a> (<a

680)     href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/torstatus.git">code</a>)</h3>

681) 

682)     <p>
683)     Portal providing an overview of the Tor network, and details on any of its
684)     current relays. Though very actively used, this project has been

685)     unmaintained for a long while. The <a
686)     href="https://svn.torproject.org/svn/torstatus/trunk/">original
687)     codebase</a> was written in PHP, and students from Wesleyan wrote the new
688)     Django counterpart.

689)     </p>

690) 

691)     <a id="project-compass"></a>
692)     <h3><a href="https://compass.torproject.org/">Compass</a> (<a
693)     href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/compass.git">code</a>, <a
694)     href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/query?status=accepted&status=assigned&status=needs_review&status=new&status=reopened&component=Compass&order=priority">bug
695)     tracker</a>)</h3>

696) 

697)     <p>
698)     Compass is a web and command line application that filters and
699)     aggregates the Tor relays based on various attributes.
700)     </p>

701) 
702)     <a id="project-onionoo"></a>
703)     <h3><a href="<page projects/onionoo>">Onionoo</a> (<a
704)     href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/onionoo.git">java codebase</a>, <a
705)     href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/pyonionoo.git">python

706)     codebase</a>, <a href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/query?status=accepted&status=assigned&status=needs_review&status=new&status=reopened&component=Onionoo&order=priority">bug tracker</a>)</h3>

707) 
708)     <p>
709)     Onionoo is a JSON based protocol to learn information about currently
710)     running Tor relays and bridges.
711)     </p>
712) 

713)     <a id="project-weather"></a>

714)     <h3><a href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/org/roadmaps/Weather">Weather</a> (<a

715)     href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/weather.git">code</a>, <a
716)     href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/query?status=accepted&status=assigned&status=needs_review&status=new&status=reopened&component=Tor+Weather&order=priority">bug
717)     tracker</a>)</h3>

718) 

719)     <p>
720)     Provides automatic notification to subscribed relay operators when their
721)     relay's unreachable. This underwent a rewrite by the <a
722)     href="http://hfoss.wesleyan.edu/">Wesleyan HFOSS team</a>, which went live
723)     in early 2011.
724)     </p>

725) 

726)     <a id="project-gettor"></a>

727)     <h3><a href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/org/roadmaps/GetTor">GetTor</a> (<a

728)     href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/gettor.git">code</a>, <a

729)     href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/query?status=accepted&status=assigned&status=needs_review&status=new&status=reopened&component=GetTor&order=priority">bug
730)     tracker</a>)</h3>

731) 

732)     <p>
733)     E-mail autoresponder providing Tor's packages over SMTP. This has been
734)     relatively unchanged for quite a while.
735)     </p>

736) 

737)     <a id="project-torcheck"></a>

738)     <h3><a href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/org/roadmaps/TorCheck">TorCheck</a> (<a

739)     href="https://svn.torproject.org/svn/check/trunk/">code</a>, <a
740)     href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/query?status=accepted&status=assigned&status=needs_review&status=new&status=reopened&component=Tor+Check&order=priority">bug
741)     tracker</a>)</h3>

742) 

743)     <p>
744)     Provides a simple site for determining if the visitor is using Tor or not.
745)     This has been relatively unchanged for quite a while.
746)     </p>

747) 

748)     <a id="project-bridgedb"></a>

749)     <h3><a href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/org/roadmaps/BridgeDB">BridgeDB</a> (<a

750)     href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/bridgedb.git">code</a>, <a
751)     href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/query?status=accepted&status=assigned&status=needs_review&status=new&status=reopened&component=BridgeDB&order=priority">bug
752)     tracker</a>)</h3>

753) 

754)     <p>
755)     Backend bridge distributor, handling the various pools they're distributed
756)     in. This was actively developed until Fall of 2010.
757)     </p>

758) 
759)     <a id="project-ooni-probe"></a>

760)     <h3><a href="https://ooni.torproject.org/">Ooni Probe</a> (<a

761)     href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/ooni-probe.git">code</a>, <a
762)     href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/query?status=accepted&status=assigned&status=needs_review&status=new&status=reopened&component=Ooni&order=priority">bug
763)     tracker</a>)</h3>
764) 
765)     <p>
766)     Censorship scanner, checking your local connection for blocked or modified
767)     content.
768)     </p>
769) 

770)     <p>
771)     <b>Project Ideas:</b><br />
772)     <i><a href="#ooniprobeSimulator">Create an Internet Censorship Virtual Machine Based Simulator</a></i>
773)     </p>
774) 

775)     <a id="project-torflow"></a>

776)     <h3><a href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/org/roadmaps/TorFlow">TorFlow</a> (<a

777)     href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/torflow.git">code</a>, <a
778)     href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/query?status=accepted&status=assigned&status=needs_review&status=new&status=reopened&component=Torflow&order=priority">bug
779)     tracker</a>)</h3>

780) 

781)     <p>
782)     Library and collection of services for actively monitoring the Tor network.
783)     These include the Bandwidth Scanners (measuring throughput of relays) and
784)     SoaT (scans for malicious or misconfigured exit nodes). SoaT was last
785)     actively developed in the Summer of 2010, and the Bandwidth Scanners a few
786)     months later. Both have been under active use since then, but development
787)     has stopped.
788)     </p>

789) 

790)     <a id="project-torbel"></a>
791)     <h3><a

792)     href="https://blog.torproject.org/blog/torbel-tor-bulk-exit-list-tools">TorBEL</a> (<a
793)     href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/torbel.git">code</a>, <a

794)     href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/query?status=accepted&status=assigned&status=needs_review&status=new&status=reopened&component=TorDNSEL/TorBEL&order=priority">bug
795)     tracker</a>)</h3>

796) 

797)     <p>
798)     The Tor Bulk Exitlist provides a method of identifying if IPs belong to
799)     exit nodes or not. This is a replacement for TorDNSEL which is a stable
800)     (though unmaintained) Haskell application for this purpose. The initial
801)     version of TorBEL was started in GSOC 2010 but since then the project has
802)     been inactive.
803)     </p>

804) 

805)     <p>
806)     <b>Project Ideas:</b><br />
807)     <i><a href="#stemUsability">Stem Usability and Porting (this includes an idea for finishing off TorBEL)</a></i>
808)     </p>
809) 

810)     <a id="project-tor2web"></a>
811)     <h3><a
812)     href="http://wiki.tor2web.org/index.php/Main_Page">Tor2web</a> (<a
813)     href="https://github.com/globaleaks/tor2web-3.0/wiki">code</a>)</h3>
814) 
815)     <p>
816)     Tor2web allows Internet users to browse websites running in <a
817)     href="<page docs/hidden-services>">Tor hidden services</a>. It trades
818)     user anonymity for usability by allowing anonymous content to be
819)     distributed to non-anonymous users.
820)     </p>
821) 

822)     <a id="project-anonbib"></a>
823)     <h3><a
824)     href="http://freehaven.net/anonbib/">Anonymity Bibliography</a> (<a
825)     href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/anonbib.git">code</a>)</h3>
826) 
827)     <p>

828)     Anonbib is a list of important papers in the field of anonymity. It's
829)     also a set of scripts to generate the website from Latex (bibtex). If
830)     we're missing any important papers, please let us know!

831)     </p>
832) 

833)     <a id="Coding"></a>
834)     <a id="Summer"></a>

835)     <h2><a class="anchor" href="#Coding">Project Ideas</a></h2>

836) 

837)     <p>

838)     You may find some of these projects to be good ideas for <a href="<page
839)     about/gsoc>">Google Summer of Code</a> and the <a
840)     href="https://live.gnome.org/OutreachProgramForWomen">Outreach Program for

841)     Women</a>. We have labelled each idea with how much work we expect it would
842)     be (effort level), how much clue you should start with (skill level),
843)     and which of our <a href="<page about/corepeople>">core developers</a>
844)     would be good mentors. If one or more of these ideas looks promising to
845)     you, please <a href="<page about/contact>">contact us</a> to discuss your
846)     plans rather than sending blind applications. You may also want to propose
847)     your own project idea &mdash; which often results in the best applications.

848)     </p>

849) 

850)     <ol>

851) 

852)     <a id="metrics-pyDoctor"></a>
853)     <li>
854)     <b>PyDoctor</b>
855)     <br>
856)     Effort Level: <i>Medium</i>
857)     <br>
858)     Skill Level: <i>Medium</i>
859)     <br>
860)     Likely Mentors: <i>karsten, Damian (atagar)</i>
861)     <p><a href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/doctor.git">DocTor</a>, also
862)     known as the consensus-health checker, is a service that periodically
863)     checks the Tor network for consensus conflicts and other hiccups.  In order
864)     to do so it downloads the Tor consensus and votes from the Tor directory
865)     authorities and checks them for consensus problems.  DocTor writes its
866)     findings to local files which can then be sent to a <a
867)     href="https://lists.torproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tor-consensus-health">mailing
868)     list</a> or IRC bot (nsa in #tor-bots on OFTC), or which can be served by
869)     an <a href="https://metrics.torproject.org/consensus-health.html">HTTP
870)     server</a>.</p>
871) 
872)     <p>This project would be about rewriting DocTor in Python and using Stem
873)     for the descriptor parsing.  This would require extending Stem to download
874)     consensuses and votes (and later server descriptors for Damian's
875)     consensus checker), and it would require rewriting the DocTor code in
876)     Python.</p>
877)     </li>
878) 

879)     <a id="txtorcon-stemIntegration"></a>
880)     <li>
881)     <b>Txtorcon/Stem Integration</b>
882)     <br>
883)     Effort Level: <i>Medium</i>
884)     <br>
885)     Skill Level: <i>Medium</i>
886)     <br>
887)     Likely Mentors: <i>meejah, Damian (atagar)</i>
888)     <p>Txtorcon is a Twisted-based Python controller library, and Stem is a
889)     synchronous (threaded) one, also in Python. There is no need to have
890)     two implementations of (at least) the protocol parsing code. This
891)     project would entail eliminating duplication by leveraging Stem's
892)     parsing in txtorcon while keeping txtorcon's API the same (or at least
893)     close).</p>

894)     <p>Besides this you should identify some additional tasks to improve our
895)     controller space across these two libraries. Some ideas are...</p>
896)     <ul>
897)       <li>Write a tutorial for <a
898)       href="https://stem.torproject.org/tutorials.html">stem's tutorial
899)       page</a> demonstrating cross txtorcon/stem usage.</li>
900)       <li>Expand the txtorcon API to include functionality of <a
901)       href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/stem.git/blob/HEAD:/stem/control.py">stem's
902)       controller</a> that would be of interest to twisted users. All additions
903)       should include tests!</li>
904)       <li>Come up with some ideas of your own! We'd love to discuss them with
905)       you.</li>
906)     </ul>

907)     <p>This would very likely involve changes to both libraries, although
908)     most would be expected to be in txtorcon. meejah is available to
909)     mentor txtorcon changes, and Damian (atagar) can help with Stem.</p>
910)     <p>It would help if you're already familiar with event-based programming,
911)     bonus points if it's Twisted.</p>
912)     </li>
913) 

914)     <a id="httpsImpersonation"></a>

915)     <li>
916)     <b>HTTPS Server Impersonation</b>
917)     <br>
918)     Effort Level: <i>Medium to High</i>
919)     <br>
920)     Skill Level: <i>Medium to High</i>
921)     <br>
922)     Likely Mentors: <i>Nick (nickm)</i>

923)     <p>

924)     We have an open proposal for a way to make Tor bridges avoid censorship by
925)     impersonating an HTTPS server.  Specifically, we need to hack some popular
926)     SSL "reverse proxy" (your choice) so that it relays regular web connections
927)     to an HTTP server, but certain connections to a local Tor process.  <a
928)     href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/torspec.git/blob_plain/HEAD:/proposals/203-https-frontend.txt">Proposal
929)     203</a> has a general design sketch.

930)     </p>

931) 
932)     <p>
933)     <b>This project is likely trickier than it looks. You should avoid applying
934)     for this if you're uncertain about being able to complete it.</b>
935)     </p>
936)     </li>

937)     </li>

938) 

939)     <a id="chutneyExpansion"></a>
940)     <li>
941)     <b>Make Chutney Do More, More Reliably</b>
942)     <br>
943)     Effort Level: <i>Medium to High, depending on scope of project</i>
944)     <br>
945)     Skill Level: <i>Medium</i>
946)     <br>

947)     Likely Mentors: <i>Nick (nickm)</i>
948)     <p>

949)     We have a little Python tool called <a
950)     href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/nickm/chutney.git">Chutney</a> for
951)     making small local test networks.  It's small, not widely used, and not as
952)     automated as it could be.

953)     </p>

954) 

955)     <p>

956)     It would be great to see chutney extended and a set of supporting tests
957)     built to the point where we could use Chutney to exercise various Tor
958)     features as an automated integration test.

959)     </p>

960) 
961)     <p>
962)     <b>As part of your application for this project please submit a patch that
963)     expands Chutney.</b>
964)     </p>
965) 

966)     </li>

967) 

968)     <a id="limitCapabilities"></a>

969)     <li>

970)     <b>Run With Limited Capabilities</b>

971)     <br>
972)     Effort Level: <i>Medium to High</i>
973)     <br>

974)     Skill Level: <i>High</i>

975)     <br>
976)     Likely Mentors: <i>Nick (nickm)</i>
977)     <p>

978)     Many modern operating systems give a running program the ability to drop
979)     capabilities that it no longer needs, and other ways for a program to run
980)     pieces of itself in a sandbox with diminished privileges.

981)     </p>

982) 

983)     <p>

984)     We'd like to do this with Tor, to improve its resistance to attacks.  The
985)     easiest areas to address would be on systems like <a
986)     href="https://lwn.net/Articles/475361/">recent Linux kernels</a> that make
987)     it easy to drop or restrict the set of syscalls that a program can invoke.
988)     That's a great project, but probably not big enough for an internship just
989)     on its own.  For that, we'd want to make progress on at least multiple
990)     platforms, or look into refactoring Tor into pieces that need more
991)     privileges and pieces that don't with an eye towards sandboxing them
992)     differently.

993)     </p>

994) 

995)     <p>

996)     See tickets <a href="https://trac.torproject.org/7005">#7005</a> and <a
997)     href="https://trac.torproject.org/5219">#5219</a>, and their descendants,
998)     for more information.

999)     </p>
1000)     </li>

1001) 

1002)     <a id="metricsSearch"></a>

1003)     <li>

1004)     <b>Searchable Tor descriptor and Metrics data archive</b>

1005)     <br>
1006)     Effort Level: <i>Medium</i>
1007)     <br>
1008)     Skill Level: <i>Medium</i>
1009)     <br>

1010)     Likely Mentors: <i>Karsten</i>
1011)     <p>The <a href="https://metrics.torproject.org/data.html">Metrics data
1012)     archive</a> of Tor relay descriptors and other Tor-related network data has
1013)     grown to over 100G in size, bz2-compressed.  We have developed two search
1014)     interfaces: the <a
1015)     href="https://metrics.torproject.org/relay-search.html">relay search</a>
1016)     finds relays by nickname, fingerprint, or IP address in a given month; <a
1017)     href="https://metrics.torproject.org/exonerator.html">ExoneraTor</a> finds
1018)     whether a given IP address was a relay on a given day.</p>

1019) 

1020)     <p>We'd like to have a more general search application for Tor descriptors
1021)     and metrics data.  There are more <a
1022)     href="https://metrics.torproject.org/formats.html">descriptor types</a>
1023)     that we'd like to include in the search.  The search application should
1024)     handle most of them and understand some semantics like what's a timestamp,
1025)     what's an IP address, and what's a link to another descriptor.  Users
1026)     should then be able to search for arbitrary strings or limit their search
1027)     to given time periods or IP address ranges.  Descriptors that reference
1028)     other descriptors should contain links, and descriptors should be able to
1029)     say from where they are linked.  The goal is to make the archive easily
1030)     browsable.</p>

1031) 

1032)     <p>The search application shall be separate from the metrics website and
1033)     shouldn't rely on the metrics website codebase.  The search application
1034)     will contain hourly updated descriptor data from the metrics website via
1035)     rsync.  Programming language and database system are not specified yet,
1036)     though there's a slight preference for Python/Django and Postgres for
1037)     maintenance reasons.  If there are good reasons to pick something else,
1038)     e.g, some NoSQL variant or some search application framework, that's fine,
1039)     too.  Further requirements are that lookups should be really fast and that
1040)     changes to the search application can be implemented in reasonable
1041)     time.</p>

1042) 

1043)     <p>Applications for this project should come with a design of the proposed
1044)     search application, ideally with a proof-of-concept based on a subset of
1045)     the available data to show that it will be able to handle the 100G+ of
1046)     data.</p>

1047)     </li>

1048) 

1049)     <a id="stemUsability"></a>

1050)     <li>

1051)     <b>Stem Usability and Porting</b>

1052)     <br>
1053)     Effort Level: <i>Medium</i>
1054)     <br>
1055)     Skill Level: <i>Medium</i>
1056)     <br>

1057)     Likely Mentors: <i>Damian (atagar), Sebastian</i>

1058)     <p>

1059)     <a href="https://stem.torproject.org/">Stem</a> is a

1060)     python controller library for tor. Like it's predecessor, <a

1061)     href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/pytorctl.git">TorCtl</a>, it uses tor's <a

1062)     href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/torspec.git/blob/HEAD:/control-spec.txt">control
1063)     protocol</a> to help developers program against the tor process, enabling
1064)     them to build things similar to <a href="#project-vidalia">Vidalia</a> and

1065)     <a href="http://www.atagar.com/arm/">arm</a>.

1066)     </p>

1067) 

1068)     <p>
1069)     While TorCtl provided a fine first draft for this sort of functionality,
1070)     it has not proved to be extensible nor maintainable. Stem is a rewrite of
1071)     TorCtl with a heavy focus on testing, documentation, and providing a
1072)     developer friendly API.
1073)     </p>

1074) 

1075)     <p>

1076)     Stem has largely met these goals but there's still plenty of low hanging
1077)     fruit in terms of usability improvements. Also, we have clients still using

1078)     TorCtl that need to be ported over. This project would include several
1079)     subtasks. Some ideas for instance are...

1080)     </p>

1081) 

1082)     <ol>
1083)       <li>Come up with a better, more developer friendly "Module Overview" for our documentation (<a href="https://stem.torproject.org/api/control.html">example page</a>). For instance, it would be nice to provide interlinking between the overview and the classes/methods that it lists. This will probably involve asking for help from the <a href="http://sphinx-doc.org/">Sphinx user list</a>. (<a href="https://trac.torproject.org/7632">ticket</a>)</li>

1084)       <li>After getting some exposure to stem it would be time to give using it a try. Tor has a couple clients (<a href="https://trac.torproject.org/8263">TorBEL</a> and <a href="https://trac.torproject.org/8264">Tor Weather</a>) that are ready to be moved to stem. Hopefully porting these will also provide us with some lessons on how we can further improve stem's API. <b>Note that this would also involve polishing off <a href="#project-torbel">TorBEL</a>, including the <a href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/query?status=accepted&status=assigned&status=needs_information&status=needs_review&status=needs_revision&status=new&status=reopened&group=component&component=TorDNSEL%2FTorBEL&order=priority">issues that prevent us from deploying it</a></b>. This later portion would be primarily mentored by Sebastian.</li>

1085)       <li><b>... other ideas?</b> The above are just some ideas I've come up with to improve usability and likely not enough to fill the summer. Feel free to suggest some of your own! For instance, one option would be to expand <a href="https://stem.torproject.org/tutorials.html">stem's tutorials</a> with more examples, maybe <a href="https://lists.torproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tor-dev/">contacting tor-dev@</a> to brainstorm ideas. This last bit is pretty open so I look forward to seeing what you come up with!</li>

1086)     </ol>

1087) 

1088)     <p>

1089)     <b>As part of your application for this project please write a script that does something interesting with stem.</b> Bonus points if this is something that we can <a href="https://stem.torproject.org/tutorials.html">make a tutorial</a> around!

1090)     </p>

1091) 

1092)     <a id="stemTestingForTor"></a>
1093)     <li>
1094)     <b>Stem Tests for Tor</b>
1095)     <br>
1096)     Effort Level: <i>Medium</i>
1097)     <br>
1098)     Skill Level: <i>Medium</i>
1099)     <br>
1100)     Likely Mentors: <i>Damian (atagar)</i>
1101)     <p>
1102)     Stem is a library for interacting with Tor (see '<a href="#stemUsability">Stem Usability and Porting</a>' above for a summary). The library has both <a href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/stem.git/tree/HEAD:/test/unit">unit</a> and <a href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/stem.git/tree/HEAD:/test/integ">integration</a> tests. The unit tests provide a quick, direct test of stem's codebase while the integration test exercises its functionality against a live instance of Tor.
1103)     </p>
1104) 
1105)     <p>
1106)     Stem's integration tests have thus far been (unsurprisingly) designed to test stem but there's no need for them to be limited to that. Stem is a complete implementation of Tor's <a href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/torspec.git/blob/HEAD:/control-spec.txt">control-spec</a> and <a href="https://gitweb.torproject.org/torspec.git/blob/HEAD:/dir-spec.txt">dir-spec</a>. As such, stem's tests could be easily expanded to more dedicatedly test behavior involved in those portions of Tor's codebase, as well as provide a smoke test for its general functionality.
1107)     </p>
1108) 
1109)     <p>
1110)     This project would involve several components:
1111)     </p>
1112) 
1113)     <ol>
1114)       <li>Determine what kind of tests we need. <b>This should be done during the application phase</b> by <a href="https://lists.torproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tor-dev/">contacting tor-dev@</a>. Hopefully this will give us an idea of what would be the most useful kind of tests of this nature for Tor development.</li>

1115)       <li>Our <a href="https://jenkins.torproject.org/job/stem-tor-ci/">automated testing environment</a> presently sends the test output when they fail. We should think about having our tests optionally provide html formatted results (maybe this is something a testing framework can already provide?).</li>

1116)       <li>Implement the new suite of integration tests for Tor. This will likely include expanding Tor to support better testability. One useful candidate, for instance, would be a controller method to fetch our own descriptor. This would let us easily test various configurations to see if they provide valid descriptor content.</li>
1117)     </ol>
1118) 
1119)     <p>

1120)     <b>As part of your application for this project please write some code to expand stem's tests.</b> Bonus points if it implements one of your suggestions for better testing Tor!

1121)     </p>
1122) 

1123)     <a id="torCleanup"></a>

1124)     <li>

1125)     <b>Tor Codebase Cleanup</b>

1126)     <br>

1127)     Effort Level: <i>Low to High, depending on subproject chosen</i>

1128)     <br>

1129)     Skill Level: <i>Medium to High</i>

1130)     <br>

1131)     Likely Mentors: <i>Nick (nickm)</i>

1132)     <p>

1133)     The Tor code is almost 10 years old in places, and we haven't always had
1134)     enough time or wisdom to write things as well as we could have.  Our unit
1135)     test coverage is shamefully low, and the dependency graph of our modules is
1136)     shamefully convoluted . We could use refactoring and unit tests!  Please
1137)     look through the Tor source code and look for ugly or tricky code or
1138)     dependencies -- the uglier and trickier the better -- and think about how
1139)     you could make the code look better, read better, and (subject to testing)
1140)     work better.

1141)     </p>

1142) 

1143)     <p>

1144)     If this is for a fun side-project, it would be great for you to work on
1145)     anything that can be made better and more tested.  For an internship-level
1146)     position, we'd hope that you could find a number of particularly tricky or
1147)     knotty piece of the code to clean up, and aim for resolving the ugliest
1148)     problems, not necessarily the easiest.

1149)     </p>

1150) 

1151)     <p>

1152)     For a big project here, it would be great to pick one of the major
1153)     "submodules" of Tor -- path selection, node discovery, directory authority
1154)     operations, directory service -- and refactor its interface completely, to
1155)     minify and codify its points of contact with the rest of Tor.

1156)     </p>

1157) 
1158)     <p>
1159)     <b>As part of your application for this project please identify one of the
1160)     thorniest Tor functions and submit a patch refactoring it to be better. If
1161)     you find this to be difficult then this likely isn't the project for
1162)     you.</b>
1163)     </p>

1164)     </li>

1165) 

1166)     <a id="ooniprobeSimulator"></a>
1167)     <li>
1168)     <b>Create an Internet Censorship Virtual Machine Based Simulator</b>
1169)     <br>
1170)     Effort Level: <i>Medium</i>
1171)     <br>
1172)     Skill Level: <i>Medium</i>
1173)     <br>
1174)     Likely Mentors: <i>hellais</i>
1175)     <p>
1176)     The purpose of this is to create a virtual machine based environment for
1177)     recreating censorship. The task of the student will be to document and
1178)     implement a system that allows you to recreated a censored network with the
1179)     purpose of testing the proper functioning of ooniprobe tests.
1180)     </p>
1181) 
1182)     <p>
1183)     Some ideas of things that would be useful to have be emulated by the test
1184)     lab:
1185)     </p>
1186) 
1187)     <ul>
1188)       <li>A transparent HTTP proxy (based on squid)</li>
1189)       <li>NAT traversal</li>
1190)       <li>HTTP proxy blocking certain sites</li>
1191)       <li>DNS based censorship</li>
1192)     </ul>
1193) 
1194)     <p>
1195)     The process of setting up the virtual machines and simulating censorship
1196)     should be fully automated (<a
1197)     href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/7233">related
1198)     ticket</a>).
1199)     </p>
1200)     </li>
1201) 

1202)     <a id="steganographyBrowserAddon"></a>
1203)     <li>
1204)     <b>Steganography Browser Addon</b>
1205)     <br>
1206)     Effort Level: <i>Medium</i>
1207)     <br>
1208)     Skill Level: <i>Medium</i>
1209)     <br>
1210)     Likely Mentors: <i>sukhbir, Moritz (gamambel)</i>
1211)     <p>
1212)     To facilitate the sharing of bridge addresses and other secrets, we want
1213)     a browser addon that detects steganographically and  asymmetrically
1214)     encrypted content embedded in website content. It would ship with a set
1215)     of preconfigured keys, as well as allow users to modify that set.
1216)     Additionally, it should be able to embed secrets. It must be written in
1217)     an extensible way, so that other steganography libraries and supported
1218)     media types can be added to the code easily.
1219)     </p>
1220) 
1221)     <p>
1222)     As part of your application for this project assess the current state of
1223)     Javascript steganography libraries, tell us which one you would pick
1224)     primarily, and why. Ideally, your application comes with some mockups of
1225)     how parts of the user interface of your addon would look like.
1226)     </p>

1227) 
1228)     <p>
1229)     For more information see the <a
1230)     href="http://www.cs.kau.se/philwint/censorbib/#Invernizzi2012">Message In A
1231)     Bottle: Sailing Past Censorship</a> research paper.
1232)     </p>

1233)     </li>
1234) 

1235)     <a id="betterPluggableTransports"></a>
1236)     <li>
1237)     <b>Build Better Pluggable Transports</b>
1238)     <br>
1239)     Effort Level: <i>Medium to High</i>
1240)     <br>
1241)     Skill Level: <i>Medium</i>
1242)     <br>
1243)     Likely Mentors: <i>Steven (sjmurdoch)</i>
1244)     <p>
1245)     For Tor users in censored countries, we currently offer <a
1246)     href="https://www.torproject.org/projects/obfsproxy.html.en">obfsproxy</a>
1247)     bridges, which disguise Tor traffic by making it look random. This works
1248)     for many users, but it has disadvantages: firstly it does not disguise
1249)     packet size and secondly it looks like no real protocol. These weaknesses
1250)     may result in obfsproxy being blocked.
1251)     </p>
1252) 
1253)     <p>
1254)     The goal for this project will be to implement new pluggable transports,
1255)     which resolve these weaknesses and so can be deployed if/when obfsproxy is
1256)     blocked. Ideas for doing so include:
1257)       <ul>
1258)         <li>Impersonate a voice-over-IP protocol</li>
1259)         <li>Impersonate HTTP sufficiently well that traffic will go through a HTTP-only proxy</li>
1260)         <li>Implement <a href="http://cacr.uwaterloo.ca/techreports/2011/cacr2011-21.pdf">scanning resistance</a></a>
1261)       </ul>
1262)     </p>
1263) 
1264)     <a id="profileUDPTransport"></a>
1265)     <li>
1266)     <b>Profile UDP transport protocols</b>
1267)     <br>
1268)     Effort Level: <i>Medium to High</i>
1269)     <br>
1270)     Skill Level: <i>High</i>
1271)     <br>
1272)     Likely Mentors: <i>Steven (sjmurdoch)</i>
1273)     <p>
1274)     There are <a
1275)     href="https://research.torproject.org/techreports/datagram-comparison-2011-11-07.pdf">lots
1276)     of options</a> as to how Tor could send its data over UDP rather than TCP,
1277)     and some will likely perform significantly better than others. This project
1278)     will evaluate these options, so as to decide which should be used in future
1279)     versions of Tor. A first step will be to benchmark the various transport
1280)     protocols being considered, in terms of performance and also code quality,
1281)     including userspace TCP, <a
1282)     href="https://github.com/bittorrent/libutp">&mu;TP</a>, <a
1283)     href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stream_Control_Transmission_Protocol">SCTP</a>
1284)     and <a href="http://curvecp.org/">CurveCP</a>. Initially these transport
1285)     protocols will be examined in isolation, but if the project progresses well
1286)     one or more could be integrated in Tor.
1287)     </p>
1288)     </li>
1289) 

1290)     <a id="reportingBuggyRulesets"></a>
1291)     <li>
1292)     <b>Automated Reporting of Buggy Rulesets</b>
1293)     <br>
1294)     Effort Level: <i>Medium</i>
1295)     <br>
1296)     Skill Level: <i>Medium</i>
1297)     <br>

1298)     Likely Mentors: <i>Peter Eckersley (pde), Micah Lee</i>

1299)     <p>
1300) When users manually disable an HTTPS Everywhere ruleset via the toolbar menu,
1301) that's a strong hint that that ruleset might be buggy.  If we could obtain
1302) statistics about which rulesets are manually disabled by the users of which
1303) HTTPS E versions, we could get a statistical picture of which rulesets need
1304) the most urgent debugging and/or disablement.  This would enormously improve
1305) the quality of the HTTPS Everywhere user experience.
1306)     </p>
1307) 
1308)     <p>
1309) HTTPS Everywhere already includes a pipeline for anonymised user submissions
1310) (via Tor where available) that is used for the Decentralized SSL Observatory.
1311) We should do a popup that asks the users to submit anonymous reports of
1312) disabled rules, when they manually disable one for the first time.
1313)     </p>
1314) 
1315)     <p>
1316) Perhaps this feature could optionally let users submit the URL of the page
1317) they were looking at when the bug occurred, although we would need to take
1318) care in handling those, and perhaps implement some countermeasures against
1319) sending passwords or auth tokens when URLs contain those.
1320)     </p>
1321)     </li>
1322) 
1323)     <a id="httpsEverywhereForFirefoxModile"></a>
1324)     <li>
1325)     <b>Port HTTPS Everywhere to Firefox Mobile</b>
1326)     <br>
1327)     Effort Level: <i>Medium</i>
1328)     <br>
1329)     Skill Level: <i>Medium</i>
1330)     <br>

1331)     Likely Mentors: <i>Peter Eckersley (pde), Micah Lee</i>

1332)     <p>
1333) In the past a Firefox Mobile port of HTTPS Everywhere was made impractically
1334) complicated by the Electrolysis threading architecture used in that variant of
1335) Firefox (<a href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/2471">ticket</a>).  However with
1336) the implementation of the simple NSIHTTPChannel.redirectTo() API in Firefox
1337) 20+ (<a href="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=765934">ticket</a>) we are probably very
1338) close to having a trivial port of HTTPS Everywhere to Firefox on Android.
1339)     </p>
1340) 
1341)     <p>
1342) This would make a great GSOC project for someone who'd like to learn some
1343) introductory skills with hacking on the internals of real web browsers!
1344)     </p>
1345)     </li>
1346) 
1347)     <a id="httpsEverywhereMixedContentHandling"></a>
1348)     <li>
1349)     <b>HTTPS Everywhere mixed content detection and handling</b>
1350)     <br>
1351)     Effort Level: <i>Medium</i>
1352)     <br>
1353)     Skill Level: <i>Medium</i>
1354)     <br>

1355)     Likely Mentors: <i>Peter Eckersley (pde), Micah Lee</i>

1356)     <p>
1357) Since version 20, Chrome has automatically blocked the loading of insecure
1358) HTTP scripts and CSS in HTTPS pages.  Firefox version 23 will do the same.
1359) This is good security practice, but it causes havoc with many sites where
1360) HTTPS Everywhere can secure some, but not all, of the site's content.
1361)     </p>
1362) 
1363)     <p>
1364) Before Firefox 23 launches, we will need a more coherent plan for detecting
1365) sites where we are causing these mixed content situations, and either
1366) disabling or working around the limitation.  Failure to do so will mean that
1367) HTTPS Everywhere user experience worsens dramatically when Firefox 23 is
1368) released.  Success will mean a dramatic improvement in user experience with
1369) HTTPS Everywhere for Chrome.
1370)     </p>
1371) 
1372)     <b>Critical-path tickets:</b>
1373) 
1374)     <ul>
1375)       <li><a href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/6975">6975</a></li>
1376)       <li><a href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/8664">8664</a></li>
1377)       <li><a href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/8776">8776</a></li>
1378)     </ul>
1379) 
1380)     <b>Related tickets:</b>
1381) 
1382)     <ul>
1383)       <li><a href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/3777">3777</a></li>
1384)       <li><a href="https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/6977">6977</a></li>
1385)     </ul>
1386)     </li>
1387) 
1388)     <a id="httpsEverywhereRulesetTesting"></a>
1389)     <li>
1390)     <b>Incorporate Ruleset Testing into the HTTPS Everywhere release process</b>
1391)     <br>
1392)     Effort Level: <i>Medium</i>
1393)     <br>
1394)     Skill Level: <i>Medium</i>
1395)     <br>

1396)     Likely Mentors: <i>Peter Eckersley (pde), Micah Lee</i>

1397)     <p>
1398) Ondrej Mikle has implemented a codebase for testing HTTPS Everywhere rulesets
1399) by crawling pages that are affected by the ruleset (<a href="https://github.com/hiviah/https-everywhere-checker">repository</a>).
1400)     </p>
1401) 
1402)     <p>
1403) This codebase still has some rough edges that need to be smoothed over, but
1404) once those are done it should be incorporated into the HTTPS Everywhere build
1405) process, in order to improve the quality of our releases.
1406)     </p>
1407)     </li>
1408) 

1409)     <li>
1410)     <b>Bring up new ideas!</b>

1411)     <br>

1412)     Don't like any of these? Look at the <a

1413)     href="/press/presskit/2008-12-19-roadmap-full.pdf">Tor development

1414)     roadmap</a> for more ideas, or just try out Tor, Vidalia, and Torbutton,
1415)     and find out what you think needs fixing.

1416)     Some of the <a href="<spectree>proposals">current proposals</a>

1417)     might also be short on developers.
1418)     </li>

1419) 

1420)     </ol>

1421) 

1422)     <a id="OtherCoding"></a>
1423)     <h2><a class="anchor" href="#OtherCoding">Other Coding and Design related ideas</a></h2>
1424)     <ol>
1425)     <li>Tor relays don't work well on Windows XP. On
1426)     Windows, Tor uses the standard <tt>select()</tt> system
1427)     call, which uses space in the non-page pool. This means
1428)     that a medium sized Tor relay will empty the non-page pool, <a

1429)     href="<wiki>doc/WindowsBufferProblems">causing

1430)     havoc and system crashes</a>. We should probably be using overlapped IO
1431)     instead. One solution would be to teach <a
1432)     href="http://www.monkey.org/~provos/libevent/">libevent</a> how to use
1433)     overlapped IO rather than select() on Windows, and then adapt Tor to
1434)     the new libevent interface. Christian King made a
1435)     <a href="https://svn.torproject.org/svn/libevent-urz/trunk/">good
1436)     start</a> on this in the summer of 2007.</li>

1437) 

1438)     <li>We need to actually start building our <a href="<page
1439)     docs/documentation>#DesignDoc">blocking-resistance design</a>. This involves
1440)     fleshing out the design, modifying many different pieces of Tor, adapting
1441)     <a href="<page projects/vidalia>">Vidalia</a> so it supports the
1442)     new features, and planning for deployment.</li>

1443) 

1444)     <li>We need a flexible simulator framework for studying end-to-end
1445)     traffic confirmation attacks. Many researchers have whipped up ad hoc
1446)     simulators to support their intuition either that the attacks work
1447)     really well or that some defense works great. Can we build a simulator
1448)     that's clearly documented and open enough that everybody knows it's
1449)     giving a reasonable answer? This will spur a lot of new research.
1450)     See the entry <a href="#Research">below</a> on confirmation attacks for
1451)     details on the research side of this task &mdash; who knows, when it's
1452)     done maybe you can help write a paper or three also.</li>

1453) 

1454)     <li>Tor 0.1.1.x and later include support for hardware crypto
1455)     accelerators via OpenSSL. It has been lightly tested and is
1456)     possibly very buggy.  We're looking for more rigorous testing,

1457)     performance analysis, and optimally, code fixes to OpenSSL and

1458)     Tor if needed.</li>

1459) 

1460)     <li>Write a <a
1461)     href="https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Fuzz_testing">fuzzer</a>
1462)     for Tor to discover security vulnerabilities. Determine if there
1463)     are good fuzzing frameworks out there for what we want. Win fame by

1464)     getting credit when we put out a new release because of you!</li>

1465) 

1466)     <li>Tor uses TCP for transport and TLS for link
1467)     encryption. This is nice and simple, but it means all cells
1468)     on a link are delayed when a single packet gets dropped, and
1469)     it means we can only reasonably support TCP streams. We have a <a

1470)     href="<page docs/faq>#TransportIPnotTCP">list

1471)     of reasons why we haven't shifted to UDP transport</a>, but it would
1472)     be great to see that list get shorter. We also have a proposed <a

1473)     href="<specblob>proposals/100-tor-spec-udp.txt">specification

1474)     for Tor and
1475)     UDP</a> &mdash; please let us know what's wrong with it.</li>

1476) 

1477)     <li>We're not that far from having IPv6 support for destination addresses
1478)     (at exit nodes). If you care strongly about IPv6, that's probably the
1479)     first place to start.</li>

1480) 

1481)     <li>We need a way to generate the website diagrams (for example, the "How
1482)     Tor Works" pictures on the <a href="<page about/overview>">overview page</a>
1483)     from source, so we can translate them as UTF-8 text rather than edit
1484)     them by hand with Gimp. We might want to
1485)     integrate this as an wml file so translations are easy and images are
1486)     generated in multiple languages whenever we build the website.</li>

1487) 

1488)     <li>How can we make the various LiveCD/USB systems easier
1489)     to maintain, improve, and document?  One example is <a

1490)     href="https://tails.boum.org/">The Amnesic Incognito Live

1491)     System</a>.
1492)     </li>

1493) 

1494)     <li>
1495)     Another anti-censorship project is to try to make Tor
1496)     more scanning-resistant.  Right now, an adversary can identify <a

1497)     href="<specblob>proposals/125-bridges.txt">Tor bridges</a>

1498)     just by trying to connect to them, following the Tor protocol,
1499)     and seeing if they respond.  To solve this, bridges could <a
1500)     href="<svnprojects>design-paper/blocking.html#tth_sEc9.3">act like
1501)     webservers</a> (HTTP or HTTPS) when contacted by port-scanning tools,
1502)     and not act like bridges until the user provides a bridge-specific key.
1503)     To start, check out Shane Pope's <a
1504)     href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/37735/index.html">thesis and prototype</a>.
1505)     </li>

1506) 

1507)     </ol>

1508) 

1509)     <a id="Research"></a>
1510)     <h2><a class="anchor" href="#Research">Research</a></h2>
1511)     <ol>
1512)     <li>The "end-to-end traffic confirmation attack":
1513)     by watching traffic at Alice and at Bob, we can <a
1514)     href="http://freehaven.net/anonbib/#danezis:pet2004">compare
1515)     traffic signatures and become convinced that we're watching the same
1516)     stream</a>. So far Tor accepts this as a fact of life and assumes this
1517)     attack is trivial in all cases. First of all, is that actually true? How
1518)     much traffic of what sort of distribution is needed before the adversary
1519)     is confident he has won? Are there scenarios (e.g. not transmitting much)
1520)     that slow down the attack? Do some traffic padding or traffic shaping
1521)     schemes work better than others?</li>
1522)     <li>A related question is: Does running a relay/bridge provide additional
1523)     protection against these timing attacks? Can an external adversary that can't
1524)     see inside TLS links still recognize individual streams reliably?
1525)     Does the amount of traffic carried degrade this ability any? What if the
1526)     client-relay deliberately delayed upstream relayed traffic to create a queue
1527)     that could be used to mimic timings of client downstream traffic to make it
1528)     look like it was also relayed? This same queue could also be used for masking
1529)     timings in client upstream traffic with the techniques from <a
1530)     href="http://www.freehaven.net/anonbib/#ShWa-Timing06">adaptive padding</a>,
1531)     but without the need for additional traffic. Would such an interleaving of
1532)     client upstream traffic obscure timings for external adversaries? Would the
1533)     strategies need to be adjusted for asymmetric links? For example, on
1534)     asymmetric links, is it actually possible to differentiate client traffic from
1535)     natural bursts due to their asymmetric capacity? Or is it easier than
1536)     symmetric links for some other reason?</li>
1537)     <li>Repeat Murdoch and Danezis's <a
1538)     href="http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~sjm217/projects/anon/#torta">attack from
1539)     Oakland 05</a> on the current Tor network. See if you can learn why it
1540)     works well on some nodes and not well on others. (My theory is that the
1541)     fast nodes with spare capacity resist the attack better.) If that's true,
1542)     then experiment with the RelayBandwidthRate and RelayBandwidthBurst
1543)     options to run a relay that is used as a client while relaying the
1544)     attacker's traffic: as we crank down the RelayBandwidthRate, does the
1545)     attack get harder? What's the right ratio of RelayBandwidthRate to
1546)     actually capacity? Or is it a ratio at all? While we're at it, does a
1547)     much larger set of candidate relays increase the false positive rate
1548)     or other complexity for the attack? (The Tor network is now almost two
1549)     orders of magnitude larger than it was when they wrote their paper.) Be
1550)     sure to read <a href="http://freehaven.net/anonbib/#clog-the-queue">Don't
1551)     Clog the Queue</a> too.</li>
1552)     <li>The "routing zones attack": most of the literature thinks of
1553)     the network path between Alice and her entry node (and between the
1554)     exit node and Bob) as a single link on some graph. In practice,
1555)     though, the path traverses many autonomous systems (ASes), and <a
1556)     href="http://freehaven.net/anonbib/#feamster:wpes2004">it's not uncommon
1557)     that the same AS appears on both the entry path and the exit path</a>.
1558)     Unfortunately, to accurately predict whether a given Alice, entry,
1559)     exit, Bob quad will be dangerous, we need to download an entire Internet
1560)     routing zone and perform expensive operations on it. Are there practical
1561)     approximations, such as avoiding IP addresses in the same /8 network?</li>
1562)     <li>Other research questions regarding geographic diversity consider
1563)     the tradeoff between choosing an efficient circuit and choosing a random
1564)     circuit. Look at Stephen Rollyson's <a
1565)     href="http://swiki.cc.gatech.edu:8080/ugResearch/uploads/7/ImprovingTor.pdf">position
1566)     paper</a> on how to discard particularly slow choices without hurting
1567)     anonymity "too much". This line of reasoning needs more work and more
1568)     thinking, but it looks very promising.</li>
1569)     <li>Tor doesn't work very well when relays have asymmetric bandwidth
1570)     (e.g. cable or DSL). Because Tor has separate TCP connections between
1571)     each hop, if the incoming bytes are arriving just fine and the outgoing
1572)     bytes are all getting dropped on the floor, the TCP push-back mechanisms
1573)     don't really transmit this information back to the incoming streams.
1574)     Perhaps Tor should detect when it's dropping a lot of outgoing packets,
1575)     and rate-limit incoming streams to regulate this itself? I can imagine
1576)     a build-up and drop-off scheme where we pick a conservative rate-limit,
1577)     slowly increase it until we get lost packets, back off, repeat. We
1578)     need somebody who's good with networks to simulate this and help design
1579)     solutions; and/or we need to understand the extent of the performance
1580)     degradation, and use this as motivation to reconsider UDP transport.</li>
1581)     <li>A related topic is congestion control. Is our
1582)     current design sufficient once we have heavy use? Maybe
1583)     we should experiment with variable-sized windows rather
1584)     than fixed-size windows? That seemed to go well in an <a

1585)     href="http://www.psc.edu/index.php/hpn-ssh/638">ssh

1586)     throughput experiment</a>. We'll need to measure and tweak, and maybe
1587)     overhaul if the results are good.</li>
1588)     <li>Our censorship-resistance goals include preventing
1589)     an attacker who's looking at Tor traffic on the wire from <a
1590)     href="<svnprojects>design-paper/blocking.html#sec:network-fingerprint">distinguishing
1591)     it from normal SSL traffic</a>. Obviously we can't achieve perfect
1592)     steganography and still remain usable, but for a first step we'd like to
1593)     block any attacks that can win by observing only a few packets. One of
1594)     the remaining attacks we haven't examined much is that Tor cells are 512
1595)     bytes, so the traffic on the wire may well be a multiple of 512 bytes.
1596)     How much does the batching and overhead in TLS records blur this on the
1597)     wire? Do different buffer flushing strategies in Tor affect this? Could
1598)     a bit of padding help a lot, or is this an attack we must accept?</li>
1599)     <li>Tor circuits are built one hop at a time, so in theory we have the
1600)     ability to make some streams exit from the second hop, some from the
1601)     third, and so on. This seems nice because it breaks up the set of exiting
1602)     streams that a given relay can see. But if we want each stream to be safe,
1603)     the "shortest" path should be at least 3 hops long by our current logic, so
1604)     the rest will be even longer. We need to examine this performance / security
1605)     tradeoff.</li>
1606)     <li>It's not that hard to DoS Tor relays or directory authorities. Are client
1607)     puzzles the right answer? What other practical approaches are there? Bonus
1608)     if they're backward-compatible with the current Tor protocol.</li>
1609)     <li>Programs like <a

1610)     href="<page torbutton/index>">Torbutton</a> aim to hide

1611)     your browser's UserAgent string by replacing it with a uniform answer for
1612)     every Tor user. That way the attacker can't splinter Tor's anonymity set
1613)     by looking at that header. It tries to pick a string that is commonly used
1614)     by non-Tor users too, so it doesn't stand out. Question one: how badly
1615)     do we hurt ourselves by periodically updating the version of Firefox
1616)     that Torbutton claims to be? If we update it too often, we splinter the
1617)     anonymity sets ourselves. If we don't update it often enough, then all the
1618)     Tor users stand out because they claim to be running a quite old version
1619)     of Firefox. The answer here probably depends on the Firefox versions seen
1620)     in the wild. Question two: periodically people ask us to cycle through N
1621)     UserAgent strings rather than stick with one. Does this approach help,
1622)     hurt, or not matter? Consider: cookies and recognizing Torbutton users
1623)     by their rotating UserAgents; malicious websites who only attack certain
1624)     browsers; and whether the answers to question one impact this answer.
1625)     </li>
1626)     <li>How many bridge relays do you need to know to maintain
1627)     reachability? We should measure the churn in our bridges. If there is
1628)     lots of churn, are there ways to keep bridge users more likely to stay
1629)     connected?
1630)     </li>
1631)     </ol>

1632) 

1633)     <p>
1634)     <a href="<page about/contact>">Let us know</a> if you've made progress on any
1635)     of these!
1636)     </p>
1637)   </div>
1638)   <!-- END MAINCOL -->
1639)   <div id = "sidecol">
1640) #include "side.wmi"
1641) #include "info.wmi"
1642)   </div>
1643)   <!-- END SIDECOL -->
1644) </div>
1645) <!-- END CONTENT -->