The maintenance contract for this project has the following deliverables
(1) Maintain existing USAGM Tor infrastructure; and (2) launch new USAGM onion sites. The objectives are as follows:
- Objective 1: Maintain existing USAGM Tor infrastructure including the ongoing deployment, development, and monitoring of existing USAGM onion services; ongoing deployment of existing USAGM landing pages; training and user support for USAGM staff and reporters; and infrastructure costs related to these efforts.
- Objective 2: Launch new USAGM onion sites with the expectation of the deployment of 25 new USAGM onion services during the contract period. The work covers launching new onion services, landing pages, and developing a prototype of a suite for managing onion services.
The original contract for this project has the following objectives
This project continues the effort to provide censorship circumvention tools and support to USAGM services, staff, reporters, and audiences. The project has has two objectives: (1) Maintain existing USAGM Tor infrastructure and (2) Launch new USAGM onion sites.
Objective 1: Maintain existing USAGM Tor infrastructure
In this objective, we have outlined the activities required to maintain the existing USAGM onion sites and landing pages and continue our support of USAGM staff, reporters, and audiences in their use of Tor tools.
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Maintain USAGM onion services
a) Ongoing onion service development, maintenance, and monitoring of uptime: We will continue to tend to all USAGM onion services. b) Test USAGM onion services with new versions of Tor Browser: We will continue to ensure that existing onion service sites work well with Tor Browser with each new version.
c) Develop and deploy enhancements to onionprobe: Changes to onionprobe are needed to improve the quality assurance of current onion services services and will benefit not only USAGM onion services but the larger community as this tool can help gather health information on other services and for the Tor network in general.
d) Develop a prototype of the next generation suite for managing onion services: This tool, called Oniongroove, will be the future replacement for the current solution deploying for USAGM onion services. In the contract period, we will bring Oniongroove up to the prototype level.
e) Report on onion services metrics: We will continue to report onion service USAGM article hits which give us an indication of usage. We also report on user stats on Tor in countries where USAGM operates.
f) Renew existing onion service certificates: 60 USAGM onion sites will need their certificates renewed within the new contract period. The fees associated with these certificates are included in the Infrastructure section of this budget.
g) Maintain the Guardian Project’s Bypass Censorship Portal: Guardian Project has developed a portal for deploying onion services that runs on the OTF AWS account. We rely on this portal for this contract, and the Guardian Project will continue to maintain and operate it. -
Maintain dedicated USAGM landing pages
a) Ongoing deployment and maintenance (minor enhancements and fixes) of dedicated landing pages for USAGM services: Landing pages serve as explainers on Tor and onion services and provide guidance on how to access USAGM Onion Services and their use in resisting censorship.
b) Monitor censorship against landing pages: We will continue to monitor censorship targeting USAGM landing pages, including adding URLs to Citizen Lab test lists.
c) Deployment and bug fixes for a mechanism to collect basic analytics for landing pages.
d) Localization of Tor Browser Manual, a support document available on landing pages, in relevant languages: We will contract with Localization Lab to localize the Tor Browser Manual into: Albanian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional (TW), Georgian, Hungarian, Indonesian, Korean, Macedonian, Pashto, Romanian, Russian, Thai, and Wolof. -
Provide training and support to USAGM staff and users
a) Onboard, train, and support Tor training to USAGM journalists and staff: This includes online and offline trainings on all things Tor and onion services.
b) Advocacy and campaigning support for USAGM services: We will support USAGM in running campaigns for USAGM audiences on how to use Tor to access USAGM services.
c) Provide Russian-language user support for Russian-speaking USAGM staff and Tor users: We will continue to provide user support (e.g., assistance when new censorship against Tor arises in Russia) to USAGM reporters and staff working for the Eastern European and Central Asian services, as well as Tor users / USAGM audiences in this region.
Objective 2: Launch new USAGM onion sites
This objective assumes the need for 25 new onion sites in the new contract period and the activities cover the necessary work to launch new services for USAGM.
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Launch new onion services and landing pages
a) Deploy new onion services: Up to 25 new onion sites in the contract period.
b) Deploy of new landing pages: Up to 25 new landing pages in the contract period.
c) Localization of new landing pages: Landing pages need localization to relevant languages spoken by target audiences. Up to 25 landing pages in the contract period. -
Provide onboarding and training to USAGM users
a) Onboard and deliver Tor training to USAGM journalists and staff in English and in Russian: This includes online and offline trainings on all things Tor and onion services.