@@ -9,3 +9,53 @@ The Tor Project’s work to provide Iranians with uncensored access to the inter
...
@@ -9,3 +9,53 @@ The Tor Project’s work to provide Iranians with uncensored access to the inter
The Tor Project will work on this project as the primary grantee, in partnership with Guardian Project, developers of Orbot, Onion Browser, OnionShare, and other secure and private mobile apps, and with the support of Miaan Group.
The Tor Project will work on this project as the primary grantee, in partnership with Guardian Project, developers of Orbot, Onion Browser, OnionShare, and other secure and private mobile apps, and with the support of Miaan Group.
## Objective 1: Tor tools are easy to find and use for Iranians
Most Iranians connect to the Tor network through a VPN-like mobile app called Orbot, developed by the Guardian Project, and Tor Browser, which is a Firefox-based web browser for desktop and mobile developed by the Tor Project. There are also additional apps such as the forthcoming Tor VPN for Android, OnionBrowser for iOS, and the recently released OnionShare file-sharing app for Android and iOS. To achieve Objective 1, we must improve
distribution, usability, and user support services and materials of Tor Browser and Tor-enabled mobile apps for Iranian users. This will be done through the following activities:
**O1.1, Localize websites, tutorials, promotional content, user support material, and documentation for Tor Browser and Tor mobile apps:**
Significant work has been completed to localize Tor Browser, Orbot, Onion Browser, OnionShare, and support materials into Farsi, but some content remains untranslated, which creates barriers for Iranians users and undermines efforts to connect these users with Tor tools. One challenge is that both the Guardian Project and the Tor Project rely on volunteers to execute most translations. While these communities of volunteers are invested and engaged with our organizations, moving quickly can be difficult when a population is experiencing political and social turmoil. In these instances, we contract a human-rights focused group like Localization Lab to complete translations. In this activity, we will contract with a group like Localization Lab to localize user-facing content and documentation related to these apps. This activity includes localizing any new user-facing content developed in this project. Once it is available, this will also include information about the launch of the new Tor VPN for Android, helping users transition to that app from Orbot on Android.
**O1.2, Create relevant promotional and distribution campaign for Iranians to use Tor tools:**
In this activity, we will address the challenge created by the Iranian government’s censorship of official websites and app stores, and the many unsafe “free” VPN and circumvention solutions, that make finding and using safe, open source, and free tools like Tor Browser and Orbot confusing for users. Guardian Project will lead work to engage with beneficiary communities, understand their needs, and create localized outreach campaigns that promote usage of Tor tools.
A key component of success in this area of work will be the funding request for a new Guardian Project team member who will focus on supporting users in Iran. This replicates an existing successful approach Guardian Project has taken in Latin America to grow adoption of Tor-based apps there. Through that work, Guardian Project has both increased awareness and adoption of these apps, while also increasing partnerships with local organizations and contributors to help continue to sustain its open-source work. Having trainings, outreach, and support happen fully in local languages and dialects is a key aspect of Guardian Project’s strategy in Latin America and what we plan to replicate with an Iran-focused position in this project.
Specifically in Iran, through existing outreach and relationships, Guardian Project was able to promote Orbot as a circumvention tool during the Mahsa Amini protests in 2022, causing a huge increase in adoption up to over 500,000 installs in a short period of time. Since then, active use in Iran has dropped due to loosening of internet restriction, as well as lack of resources to continue promotion and outreach. There is potential to increase adoption and everyday utility for partners in the region with the support of Guardian Project’s dedicated position through this project.
In addition to the work with the Tor Project, Guardian Project also has a significant partnership with the Center for Digital Resilience in which they act as the primary developer of the Link secure help desk. This system was designed specifically with Iranian users in mind in order to provide them a solution for accessing digital security and other support systems, and Link is in use today by a coalition of organizations working in this area.
Finally, Guardian Project has designed and developed multiple multimedia and news content applications with built-in circumvention for Iranian user communities in separate partnerships with Democracy Council, Radio Zamaneh, and the U.S. Agency for Global Media.
These outreach campaigns will be tailored to the specific cultural, linguistic, and social nuances of the target communities. We will also update user-facing material to be more relevant to target communities and their lived experiences. We will aim to connect with a diverse set of users of diverse gender, religion, sexuality, and other identities.
To support these campaigns, Guardian Project will build on existing networks as well as creating new ones through Github tickets, web-based bulletin boards, social media, and messaging groups on Telegram, WhatsApp, and Signal in order to engage with potential users, gather feedback, and provide technical support. This work will also ensure Tor-enabled mobile apps are present and available in third-party app stores and software distribution services popular with Iranians.
**O1.3, Improve usability of Tor-enabled mobile apps for Iranians through usability research:**
Guardian Project will use an iterative human-centered design process to research, create, and
publish new design personas for users in the target region. Personas are fictional characters, which are created based upon research in order to represent the different user types that might use a service, product, site, or brand in a similar way. Creating personas helps a designer to understand users' needs, experiences, behaviors, and goals. Guardian Project’s design team (Okthanks) has pioneered this kind of work in human rights space through tools like their Persona Builder and efforts such as the Latin America Personas Set.
To complete this work, Guardian Project will:
- Review and analyze user feedback; identify common challenges; and create specific, localized personas and user stories.
- Organize usability test results and user feedback using affinity mapping and other relevant techniques.
- Analyze results for each digital security tool and identify common challenges.
- Consolidate feedback into personas and user stories to represent target populations.
These personas will be based on a thorough review and analysis of existing and newly gathered user feedback, to help identify common challenges and issues faced by users. Guardian Project will safely engage with users both in Iran and the diaspora, using a variety of user research tools and techniques. The personas are incredibly useful to guide future design and development work to improve Tor mobile applications specifically around the needs of the kinds of people represented by the personas.
From this point, Guardian Project will gather feedback from Orbot and Onion Browser users; collect bug reports, usability issues, and desired enhancements; improve usability of Orbot, Onion Browser, and other potential apps of utility and interest, based on personas and feedback; and conduct multiple iterative rounds of improvements, testing, and feedback.
Usability improvements for Tor Browser are not included in this project because the Tor Project conducts usability research and makes UX improvements for Tor Browser through its Global South Strategy, a long-term intervention in its sixth year focused on increasing Tor accessibility and usability for users burdened by censorship in the Global South. The Global South Strategy is fully funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).
**O1.4, Provide live user support in Farsi:**
Since September 2022, we have seen that providing live support to users of Tor-enabled tools is crucial to keeping Iranians connected, particularly when censorship changes rapidly. Live support also helps keep users from choosing unsafe solutions that don’t protect their privacy, like applications made by bad actors who use
censorship as an opportunity to distribute fraudulent software packages containing malware.
During this time of increased need for support, our user support specialists have used translation tools and localized templates to communicate with users, but there is a limitation to the value of the support we can provide without Farsi-speaking specialists. In this activity, we will hire Farsi-speaking staff to provide Farsi-language user support for Tor-enabled tools on the Tor Project’s and Guardian Project’s live user support channels that can be accessed through email, Telegram, Whatsapp, Signal, and the official Tor Forum.
Beyond keeping Iranians connected to the open internet, live user support creates a reliable early censorship detection mechanism. When users know to report issues directly to one of our support channels, we’re able to investigate problems quickly. Sometimes this direct connection to users allows us to detect censorship hours or days sooner than automated testing. This in turn helps us develop and deploy fixes sooner, which leads directly into the second Objective.
