Whonix Community Survey: Shaping the Future of Whonix
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Engage in the Whonix Community Survey to shape the roadmap of Whonix's future development.
DRAFT!
Introduction[edit]
DRAFT!
This draft lays the groundwork for an upcoming click-through survey intended to collect invaluable feedback to steer the future course of Whonix development.
Goals[edit]
Engagement from Whonix's supporters in this survey will significantly impact the future directions of Whonix. This encompasses both contributors and donors.
Announcement Channels[edit]
survey draft request for comments:
- Project News Forums,
- Telegram,
- Twitter,
announcement of the community survey:
- Same as above, and
- one-time popup notification inside Whonix-Workstation.
Timeline[edit]
The provisional timeline for the draft is as follows:
- February, 2023: This community survey draft wiki page goes live, announcements will be posted, opening the floor for suggestions regarding the survey content.
- June, 2024: A one-time popup notification inside Whonix-Workstation™ announcing the start of survey with a link to the survey plus the usual announcements
- month, 2024: Survey concludes and is subsequently reviewed.
Survey Options[edit]
- A) Minimal: You can read as little or as much from the survey page.
- B) Normal: Reply as many questions from this survey as you like.
Survey Participation Instructions[edit]
1. Get the survey text file.
TODO: link to webform and/or text file
2. Notes.
- Keep it limited to technology.
- Keep personal information limited for data-minimization purposes.
- Do not reveal the end purpose of utilizing the software such as for example political goals.
3. Fill it out as much or little as you like.
4. Verification of Support for higher voting weight.
5. Submit.
Survey Questions[edit]
Platform Usage[edit]
Which platform are you currently using?
Why made you choose this platform?
Which platform do you intend to use in the near future?
System Architecture[edit]
Which architecture are you currently using?
- Intel, AMD64?
Which architecture would you prefer to use in the future?
- ARM?
- Mac M1, M2?
amd64 might imply AMD only. This is wrong.
amd64 means Intel and AMD.
For technical reasons, in Debian (and in many other Linux / Freedom Software related places) both, Intel and AMD, is called amd64. This is common knowledge without controversy among technical people, in doubt see Wikipedia X86-64
.
Development Priorities[edit]
We are keen on understanding your preferences regarding the developmental focus of Whonix. Your insights will guide us in aligning our efforts with the community's needs.
Please minimize your selections to help us better prioritize. The fewer selections made, the higher the impact of your vote.
- Maintain Current Practices: Continue with the existing development practices without major changes. No changes. Same since founding in 2012 to year 2024.
- Lead Developer Based: Trust the lead developer to steer the direction of development based on their expertise and understanding of technical and user needs.
- Stability: Prioritize bug fixes and enhance stability over introducing new features.
- Anonymity Enhancements: Develop additional features to improve user anonymity.
- Security Upgrades: Implement enhanced security measures to bolster user safety.
- Release Frequency: Increase the frequency of software releases for quicker access to improvements.
- Grow User Base: Attempt to promote Whonix more to attract more users. Anonymity Loves Company.
- Usability: Make Whonix easier to use.
- Circumvention Tools: Facilitate easier bypass of restrictions on Tor users with post-Tor VPN or proxy solutions.
Development Focus[edit]
Please minimize your selections to help us better prioritize. The fewer selections made, the higher the impact of your vote.
- Whonix-Host ISO
- multiple platform support
- Kicksecure generally
- Kicksecure host operating system, ISO
- Xen Hypervisor download & documentation: elaboration required. Kicksecure in Qubes? Xen installation on top of Kicksecure?
- documentation improvements
- user support
- circumvention of Geo-blocking
Next Goals[edit]
- None of these
- Whonix-Host + amnesic portable OS
- Graphical Whonix Windows Installer
- Graphical Whonix Linux Installer
User Experience[edit]
- How would you rate your overall experience with Whonix?
- What challenges have you faced while using Whonix?
- Are there any features that you find particularly useful?
- Are there any features that you find lacking or wish to see improved?
Community Engagement[edit]
- How would you rate the level of community support and engagement?
- Have you contributed to Whonix? If so, in what capacity?
- What motivates you to contribute to Whonix?
- What barriers, if any, have you encountered in contributing to Whonix?
Future Development[edit]
- What areas do you think should be prioritized for future development?
- Are there any specific features or improvements you would like to see in the upcoming versions of Whonix?
- What other projects or initiatives do you think Whonix should collaborate with?
Security and Privacy[edit]
- How satisfied are you with the level of security and privacy provided by Whonix?
- Have you encountered any security or privacy issues while using Whonix?
- Are there any additional security or privacy features you would like to see implemented?
Education and Resources[edit]
- How useful have you found the documentation and educational resources provided by Whonix?
- Are there any topics or areas you feel should be covered in more detail in the documentation?
- How can Whonix better educate users on security, privacy, and anonymity?
Please add any other questions you deem relevant, or modify the existing ones to better fit the objectives of the survey.
Network Configurations[edit]
Do you use the configuration: user -> Tor -> VPN -> destination?
Do you use the configuration: user -> VPN -> Tor -> destination?
Which of the following configurations are you interested in:
- None of these
- user -> Tor -> proxy-tunnel
- user -> Tor -> ssh-tunnel
- user -> Tor -> VPN-tunnel
Free Text Field[edit]
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Additional Survey Questions[edit]
We invite all community members to contribute by suggesting questions they would like to be included in the survey. Your input is crucial in creating a survey that encapsulates the diverse perspectives and experiences within the Whonix community. Whether you have suggestions for improving existing questions or want to propose entirely new questions, your contributions are highly encouraged.
Please edit this wiki page to add or modify questions for the survey. No wiki account is required for edits. Just press the edit button. Edits are held for moderation as a spam prevention measure.
Eligibility[edit]
Supporters of Whonix, gauged by their estimated contributions, are eligible to participate in the survey.
Voting Weight[edit]
The voting weight of participants is internally assessed and kept confidential. It's challenging to equitably compare donations against contributions. While financial donations are straightforward to measure, evaluating contributions is inherently complex.
Implementation Criteria[edit]
- Financial Cost
- Technical Feasibility
- Maintainability
- Legal Implications
Participation Simplicity[edit]
- Simplicity: The objective is to maintain minimal bureaucracy, ensuring every response is valuable and counted.
Response Expectations[edit]
- Expectations management: Please keep your expectations low.
- Return receipt only: Due to the high volume of feedback expected, please do not expect a reply apart from a return receipt. It will be impossible to engage with everyone individually.
- Feature requests and bug reports: If replies are desired, going through the usual Support will be better.
- Clarification questions: In rare cases, clarification questions might be asked which the user is free to ignore.
Submission Guidelines[edit]
Draft:
- Web form: Submit a web form. Or,
- E-mail: To submit the questionnaire, please email Developer Patrick Schleizer.
- Forums: Alternatively, public posts in the Whonix forums are also acceptable.
- Anonymous submissions: Are acceptable however will have a lower weight than verified contributors.
Survey Software - Web Form[edit]
TODO: No survey software candidates have been researched, found yet.
requirements:
- self-hosted,
- privacy-preserving,
- reliable,
- Open Source.
It might be the case that there will be no web form but only a text file to fill out and submit by e-mail or forums.
Verification of Support[edit]
- Voting weight: Participants who verify their support (via donations or contributions) will receive a substantially higher voting weight.
- Verification: Verification can be conducted privately and securely. Use a unique "password" in the designated box below for this purpose.
Proof of Contribution[edit]
Minimally bureaucratic.
- Past and current contributors: All contributors mentioned on the contributors wiki page only need to be properly authenticated through the usual means and assert their inclusion.
- Code contributions: Share a link to your GitHub (or equivalent) profile. A lightweight protection against impersonating needs to be provided.
- Forums: Share a link to your Whonix forum or issue tracker profile.
- Others: Other methods to Contribute are also acknowledged.
Proof of Donation[edit]
- PayPal: For payments made via bank wire or PayPal: Providing your real name or email address will suffice.
- Crypto: For payments made using cryptocurrency: Supply a signed message from the address used to send funds. This is supported by most cryptocurrency wallets and is unnecessary for already recognized users.
- Bitcoin: Message signing from the address which sent a donation is also possible with the Bitcoin Electrum wallet.
- Ethereum : Similar to above. Message signing.
- Monero: Revealing the precise (or approximate) time of payment and amount could serve as verification since this data is concealed from third parties, making impersonation nearly impossible.
- Others: Please ask if that applies to you.
Privacy[edit]
Participants have the option to choose between the following privacy settings for their survey submission:
- Anonymized Submission: Your responses will be completely anonymized. Your name and email will be disassociated from the data, and only the voting weight assigned to your submission will be considered.
- Identified Submission: Your name and/or email will be associated with your responses, which may be beneficial for follow-up discussions or clarifications.
Please note that regardless of your choice, all submissions will be handled with the utmost care to ensure privacy and confidentiality.
Footnotes[edit]
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At
Whonix we value freedom and trust, supporting Open Source and Freedom Software
2012-
2025 ENCRYPTED SUPPORT LLC
We believe security software like Whonix needs to remain open source and independent. Would you help sustain and grow the project? Learn more about our 13 year success story and maybe DONATE!