Check if your connection is bridled by your operator with Ooniprobe

Wondering if your Internet connection is censored in one way or another by your mobile operator?You should take a look at Ooniprobe, an application for Android and iOS which assesses the possible blocking of a selection of websites, tries to detect an invalid HTTP request and test the quality of your link without.

Ooniprobe was developed by members of the Tor network within the framework of the Ooni (Open Observatory for Network Interference) project, launched several years ago.On GitHub, the first contributions date back to mid-October 2011, a few months before the substantive work was started to collect millions of measures and thus assess all interferences that can occur on the network.

Using Tor, Internet users protect themselves much more effectively against censorship and generalized surveillance in the event that Internet access providers (ISP) of a country are under the thumb of an authoritarian regime.It is for this reason that the FSF has chosen to award a reward for the project for its role "of social interest".

Ooniprobe provides three types of tests:

These three measures are accompanied each time with technical indications which will inform users capable of understanding them.

Ooniprobe

During the two successive tests we carried out, we fell first on six sites with signs of censorship and then two others in the same case.Different explanations were delivered (reset connection, connection error, different HTTP response or unknown error) as well as tips to try to escape (use https or tor).

Clues, but not evidence

It should be kept in mind that the results obtained with the Ooniprobe application must be seen as indices on any attempts of censorship and not as irrefutable evidence on the actions of your operator.The sites marked in red in the application can just be faced with a technical concern at the time of the evaluation.

Just check access to a site that seems inaccessible to be clear, for example by going there at another time with a web browser

Open Source, the application is part of the open data movement: “Ooni publishes all the data relating to the network measures that it collects and processes because the opening of data allows third parties to driveindependent studies, to verify Ooni's findings and to respond to other research concerns, ”explain the project managers.

"These data also help to improve transparency about net censorship and many forms of interference on the network," continues the site.

Among the data that may be requested to you are the information on your network, the name of your country, your IP address and the reports in the event of a crash of the application.Sometimes sensitive information, like IP address, but it is possible to refuse certain transfers in the Ooniprobe settings.