The Tor network is documented to be blocked
in several countries. Analyzing and circumventing these blocks
typically requires detailed packet traces or access to machines inside
censoring countries. Both, however, are not always easy to acquire:
We created a technical report which discusses the design requirements for such a censorship analysis tool. We list the desired features, discuss how they can be implemented and we give a rough overview of the software design. After all, this technical report should serve as basis for the development and deployment of the censorship analysis tool.
from https://blog.torproject.org/blog/towards-tor-censorship-analysis-tool
- Network traces are problematic for two reasons. First, they are difficult to obtain since they require the cooperation of users within censoring countries. Second, they are hard to anonymize and must not fall into wrong hands. Derived information, such as flow diagrams, is typically safe to publish but frequently lacks important information.
- The alternative to network traces is to gain access to machines inside the censoring regime. This approach turns out to be difficult as well; mostly due to the lack of volunteers who could provide machines or the lack of VPS providers and open SOCKS proxies.
We created a technical report which discusses the design requirements for such a censorship analysis tool. We list the desired features, discuss how they can be implemented and we give a rough overview of the software design. After all, this technical report should serve as basis for the development and deployment of the censorship analysis tool.
from https://blog.torproject.org/blog/towards-tor-censorship-analysis-tool