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Signal is setting up proxies so users in Iran using Signal could update their proxy settings in the app to bypass the block for that at least. Not sure to what

Signal is setting up proxies so users in Iran using Signal could update their proxy settings in the app to bypass the block for that at least. Not sure to what extent things are being blocked, but if you can get connections to SOME outside services, this might help people to organize means of communication. The proxies are also setup by people outside of Iran and it doesn't really matter if someone in Iran leaks a proxy address, new ones can be setup in minutes. Look for the #IRanASignalProxy hashtag on twitter/other social media and ask people for the address. Signal also made a guide to help users set this up on Ios/Android - https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360056052052-Proxy-Support https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360056052052-Pr...

eknoes 4y ago
I set up several proxies, and only sent their addresses per mail. A Problem is that we have no idea which contact is trustful and which not, so in the end our proxies were blocked after a really short amount of time. Does anyone has successfully deployed such a proxy and it has actually been used without being blocked? Is there any best practice / experience? I am furthermore searching for a method to check whether it works from inside Iran or not. Was trying a VPN from Cyberghost, but with that it is possible to visit blocked sites, I did not previously know that data centers in Iran have unblocked access. With that I could check myself whether it works and could detect after which contact we were blocked.
- noja 4y ago
  > we have no idea which contact is trustful and which not Is this a concern? The Signal Proxy is designed so that the person running it cannot see any content. I guess the concern is them seeing your IP, and a VPN is not usable?
  - scambier 4y ago
    They mean that if the proxy is sent to a non-trustful contact, it will quickly get reported and blocked.
- pSYoniK 4y ago
  I think this needs to be approached with a throwaway mentality. You setup a proxy, it gets blocked, you setup a new one. I do agree that we cannot know who is reporting them or who is leaking the proxy addresses and ideally it would be great if a few people from within Iran could coordinate these and hand them out to other trusted people and have those share them out to friends/family/etc. However, I think we shouldn't forget that we have no real way of knowing if any of this works in all regions, what sort of access/blocks people there need to go through to connect to even basic services. So maybe instead of being worried ONLY about these issues (which are more in line with our skill set), we should try and pressure our own elected officials to take some measures, any measures to help people there. You can setup an Ansible playbook and automate the whole deployment without any issues. Most VPSes cost a few cents a day to run and could serve a lot of people. The technology aspect on our end has never been the bottleneck or the problem, but rather how to disseminate these bits of information to those who need them the most and how to actually stop this from happening yearly/monthly across the world. So I guess what I'm trying to say is thank you for your efforts, keep it up and if you know people there who can spread information about these solutions, even better! We don't know for sure the restrictions we need to fight through, so it would be great to know more about that... And in the meantime, drop an email if nothing else, to your local representatives/elected officials and ask them to do something, anything at this point, to support people exercising their right to protest. Because it's quickly becoming an optional extra even in the West.
  - deepserket 4y ago
    this is the same problem that folks at TOR encountered in some countries, Iran included https://youtu.be/ZB8ODpw_om8 https://youtu.be/ZB8ODpw_om8

eknoes 4y ago

I set up several proxies, and only sent their addresses per mail. A Problem is that we have no idea which contact is trustful and which not, so in the end our proxies were blocked after a really short amount of time. Does anyone has successfully deployed such a proxy and it has actually been used without being blocked? Is there any best practice / experience? I am furthermore searching for a method to check whether it works from inside Iran or not. Was trying a VPN from Cyberghost, but with that it is possible to visit blocked sites, I did not previously know that data centers in Iran have unblocked access. With that I could check myself whether it works and could detect after which contact we were blocked.

noja 4y ago
> we have no idea which contact is trustful and which not Is this a concern? The Signal Proxy is designed so that the person running it cannot see any content. I guess the concern is them seeing your IP, and a VPN is not usable?
- scambier 4y ago
  They mean that if the proxy is sent to a non-trustful contact, it will quickly get reported and blocked.
pSYoniK 4y ago
I think this needs to be approached with a throwaway mentality. You setup a proxy, it gets blocked, you setup a new one. I do agree that we cannot know who is reporting them or who is leaking the proxy addresses and ideally it would be great if a few people from within Iran could coordinate these and hand them out to other trusted people and have those share them out to friends/family/etc. However, I think we shouldn't forget that we have no real way of knowing if any of this works in all regions, what sort of access/blocks people there need to go through to connect to even basic services. So maybe instead of being worried ONLY about these issues (which are more in line with our skill set), we should try and pressure our own elected officials to take some measures, any measures to help people there. You can setup an Ansible playbook and automate the whole deployment without any issues. Most VPSes cost a few cents a day to run and could serve a lot of people. The technology aspect on our end has never been the bottleneck or the problem, but rather how to disseminate these bits of information to those who need them the most and how to actually stop this from happening yearly/monthly across the world. So I guess what I'm trying to say is thank you for your efforts, keep it up and if you know people there who can spread information about these solutions, even better! We don't know for sure the restrictions we need to fight through, so it would be great to know more about that... And in the meantime, drop an email if nothing else, to your local representatives/elected officials and ask them to do something, anything at this point, to support people exercising their right to protest. Because it's quickly becoming an optional extra even in the West.
- deepserket 4y ago
  this is the same problem that folks at TOR encountered in some countries, Iran included https://youtu.be/ZB8ODpw_om8 https://youtu.be/ZB8ODpw_om8