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From Discord’s Age Verification to Why We Self-Host Matrix

From Discord's age verification to why we self-host Matrix

On 2026/02/09, Discord announced a global “teen-by-default” rollout and stronger age verification (English coverage: BBC, Medianama). New and existing users will default to a teen-oriented experience; to relax content filters or access age-gated spaces, users must complete verification via facial age estimation or by submitting ID. Discord frames this as a commitment to teen safety and Safer Internet Day, and will use an “age inference model” in the background to help assign age groups.

We are not dismissing Discord’s intent—youth protection and compliance are serious. But such measures also mean one thing: large platforms will need more personal data and behavioural signals to “classify” users. Whether via face scans, ID documents, or algorithmic inference, the result is handing over “who you are, how old you are, where you are” to the platform and its partners. For many people who just want to chat, game, or collaborate, that may be an acceptable trade-off; for others, it raises the question: is there another way?

What we care about: who decides the rules, who holds the data

Commercial chat platforms have their own rules: terms of service, product direction, what data is retained, how algorithms and policies work—mostly driven by the company and shareholders, with little say for ordinary users and little visibility into how their data is used. This isn’t about “who is worse”; it’s about who gets to decide.

The anoni.net community has chosen a different path: self-hosting a Matrix homeserver. We run tuwunel, a high-performance Matrix homeserver implemented in Rust, on im.anoni.net for community discussion and 2026 theme collaboration. Server configuration, retention policy, and channel rules are decided by operators and the community together—smaller scope, more predictable, and more transparent. Our focus is clear: internet freedom, anonymous networks, and privacy in practice, not “anyone can join and talk about anything.” This is a themed, consensus-oriented workspace.

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  • 7 min read

Continuing from 2025 into 2026: Personal Privacy Guidelines, Tor Relay Campus Deployment Competition, and Exploration of Anonymous Payments

Personal Privacy Guidelines, Tor Relay Campus Deployment Competition, and Exploration of Anonymous Payments

As 2025 comes to a close, we sincerely thank all our partners for their participation and support throughout the year. From project-based efforts to community building, we have accumulated many actions and valuable experiences over the past year. Below, we will look back on the key initiatives of 2025, and also share our next steps for promoting anonymous networks in 2026.

2025

RightsCon Taipei

In 2025, the international human rights–focused conference RightsCon was held in Taipei. Upon learning that the Tor/Tails and OONI teams would also be visiting Taiwan, we initiated and prepared related workshop events several months in advance. The event attracted over 300 participants and specifically invited partners from news media and civil society organizations to join the discussions.

After the event, we compiled and published a comprehensive retrospective article to document this rare and valuable exchange.

As a result of hosting this event, we also recruited many enthusiastic volunteers. Together with them, we continued subsequent preparations, laying the groundwork for related activities held in August 2025.

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  • 8 min read

Setting Up a Tor Relay at National Taiwan Normal University: A Practical Experience of Communicating with the University and Leaving Open Possibilities

Preface: Why Talk About Anonymous Networks on Campus?

In an era where the internet is highly monitored and centrally managed, anonymous communication is no longer merely a technical option—it is a fundamental requirement for safe exploration, research, and expression. For Taiwan, this issue is especially tangible. Situated at a critical position in East Asia, internet freedom and communication resilience are no longer abstract values, but core societal capabilities that determine whether society can withstand pressure.

Universities and academic networks have historically been the earliest places where new technologies and public infrastructure are experimented with. The following interview documents how a computer science student at National Taiwan Normal University, also a member of the anonymous network community, stepped into institutional reality on campus, communicated with the university, and attempted to actually set up a Tor Relay.

Within the anonymous network community, we often talk about technology and ideals. But what is truly difficult is often not how to configure a Tor Relay, but whether “this machine can survive in the real world.”

This time, we interviewed a partner from the anonymous network community, NZ, who is currently studying in the Department of Computer Science at National Taiwan Normal University. He successfully set up a Tor Relay on campus—and not by doing it secretly, but by choosing to engage openly with the university system and completing the full administrative process.

NZ Su En-Li

蘇恩立 (Su En-Li, NZ) is currently a third-year undergraduate student in the Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering at National Taiwan Normal University. With a strong interest in information security and network governance, he is currently responsible for operating and maintaining the first Tor node on Taiwan Academic Network (TANet). In addition to hands-on technical practice, he is also dedicated to knowledge sharing, serving as an anonymous network course instructor in the GDGoC NTNU student club. He has long been involved in Taiwan’s open source and information security communities, and has volunteered multiple times at major technical conferences such as SITCON, HITCON, and COSCUP, demonstrating both community service experience and strong technical passion.

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  • 2 min read

Report: The Internet Coup

In mid-September, you may have noticed something significant: approximately 500GB of data was made public. This data pertains to China's Great Firewall (GFW) technology and how this system is exported and implemented in other authoritarian regimes.

InterSecLab, a digital security-focused laboratory, became aware of this leaked data around December 2024 and promptly took action. Over the course of 10 months, they collaborated with several organizations and tech communities to verify and analyze the leaked data. The findings were published in a report released on September 12, 2025.

Although we (Anonymous Network Community) did not assist in the initial stages, after the report was released, we quickly reviewed its content. The report confirmed many of the long-suspected capabilities of the Great Firewall. Furthermore, the report provided a clearer picture of the teams and organizations operating behind the scenes. Their development environment is similar to that of modern startup teams, with operations and maintenance for international deployments being remotely executable. In other words, the Chinese Communist Party government and other client countries can activate customized or general rules with a single click!

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  • 4 min read

2025/08 Project Update

Project Update

The workshop held from 8/9 to 8/10 was successfully completed. We are currently preparing for post-workshop discussions and reviews, and considering future directions for improvement. Whether or not you participated in the two-day event, we sincerely thank you for your continued attention to our activities.

Up next, we would like to share some updates with you for the period in August 2025.

Booth、Brochure

After the workshop event, we also participated in the conferences of HITCON and PyConTW. Although we did not apply for a booth, we created a brochure about 'Anonymous Networks.' This brochure includes an introduction to our community and explanations about Tor/Tails, OONI, internet freedom, and anonymous network topics. It also details which open-source software our community currently uses to build services. This brochure was available for attendees to pick up at the conference venue.

In the future, this brochure will only be available at in-person events, with a limited number printed each time. We will continually update it with new information. During the workshop, we provided each participant with a copy. Based on observations from this event, we found it helpful for participants to understand the community's message about 'anonymous networks and internet freedom.' For future conferences or community events of a similar nature, we will actively apply for a booth to continue promoting our message.

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  • 2 min read

2025/06 Project Update: Anonymous Network Workshop Registration Open

Anonymous Network Workshop Progress Update

June 2025 has passed, and this month we continued our preparations for the workshop event scheduled for August. We've also conducted online training sessions focusing on the basics of Tor/Tails and OONI. The "Anonymous Network Workshop" event information has been fully updated, with the two-day event agenda and registration form now completed. Registration is now open!

In addition, we have moved the project to the "Anoni.net Community" GitHub page. The original OONI-Research project page will automatically redirect to the new domain, serving as a promotional tool for the "anonymous network" alongside Tor/Tails.

Although the internet in Taiwan is very free!

The primary goal of the anonymity network community is to establish Taiwan as a base. We aim to raise public awareness about "Why are anonymous networks and internet freedom important?" Through promotion and advocacy, we hope to recruit like-minded partners to join our community. As we continue to strengthen our capabilities, we will start providing technical support and assistance tailored to the needs and contexts of news media, independent journalists, and civil society organizations.

The internet in Taiwan is very free; perhaps we can do something to help our neighbors, countries, and regions around us!

Therefore, if you happen to be available on August 9th and 10th, we invite you to join our workshop. This time, we have also arranged several roundtable discussions, providing an opportunity to hear your thoughts and visions about "anonymous networks."

Feel free to share our event information with friends who might be interested in "anonymous networks."

Event Schedule
Two-Day Event Schedule
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  • 1 min read

Community Project Establishment - Anonymity Network Community

Anonymity Network Community Anoni.net

We initially focused solely on observing and analyzing OONI data. Now, we are jointly promoting Tor/Tails anonymous network tools, deciding to use the topic of "anonymous networks" to continue advocating for "internet freedom" in Taiwan.

Thanks to this workshop event, we have been fortunate to gather partners from various backgrounds to join our community. We hope to maintain this diversity in the future, focusing on and providing diverse assistance to the people we serve.

The original OONI-Research website will automatically redirect to https://anoni.net/docs/. We plan to host a meeting after the "Anonymous Network Workshop" to discuss our visions for the community's future. If interested, you can continue to follow us or subscribe to our newsletter.

Thank you!

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  • 4 min read

Anonymous Network Workshop Progress Update

Anonymous Network Workshop Progress Update

We have made some progress and identified areas that require assistance in our "Anonymous Network Workshop" and projects recently, and I wanted to share this with you.

Anonymous Network Workshop (Preparation)

Last week, we held our second online meeting. With less than two months left until our August event, we have started dividing tasks among staff. We currently have two groups: the Event Team and the Publicity Team. We are using the remaining two months to prepare the event registration page and handle pre-event promotional activities. We are still recruiting staff members and welcome you to sign up and join us in organizing this workshop event.

Additionally, we've successfully completed the translation of the training presentation needed for the Tor/Tails workshop (thanks to all the partners involved in the translation, and special thanks to Gus and Zaatar from Tor/Tails). Our focus will now shift to training teaching assistants by the end of June. If you happen to have time, you're welcome to join us online. Before participating, you can refer to the "Self-Assessment Skills Form" to find possible answers. We will discuss and resolve them together during the online training sessions.

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2025/05 Project Status and Updates

2025/05 Project Status and Updates

May 2025 has passed, and amidst all the ongoing events, we would like to share the progress of the project over the past month with you!

Anonymous Network Workshop (Preparation)

The "Anonymous Network Workshop" event, scheduled to take place at COSCUP in August 2025, had its first online planning meeting on May 18. You can refer to the meeting notes here. We appreciate the participation of many partners who have signed up for this event. The next meeting is scheduled for June 8, 2025, at 21:00 UTC+8, and is expected to cover topics such as training schedules, event preparation, and more.

The materials are currently being translated. We are adapting the Tor/Tails materials by simply translating them into Chinese without altering the original structure to make them suitable for a Chinese-speaking audience. There has been a robust response for training assistants, but we still need some volunteer partners for event assistance, such as promoting the event, managing the registration page, and planning the activities on the day of the event, among others. If you are still interested, feel free to sign up!

Staff Registration

  • The event is planned to be divided into two groups: the Activity Group and the Teaching Assistant Group. There is no restriction on joining only one group; participation depends on the time you can commit.
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2025/04 Project Status and Updates

2025/04 Project Status and Updates

Long time no see. April was a very busy period, and the Anoni.net Docs project progressed a bit slowly. We translated an update released by OONI: Launch: New OONI Explorer thematic censorship pages. Additionally, our translation of the "Tor University Challenge" for eff.org has been completed and successfully updated on their website. However, we currently lack the energy to promote this program, so perhaps we can brainstorm on how to push it forward.

EFF, Tor University

Most importantly, we have started preparing for the "Anonymous Network Workshop" scheduled for 2025/08!

Recruiting Staff and Training Helpers for the "Anonymous Network Workshop"

We plan to host the "Anonymous Network Workshop" at this year's COSCUP 2025 conference, continuing from the workshop held before RightsCon. This time, we will focus on translating and localizing the teaching materials and conduct the sessions in Mandarin. Before the event in 2025/08, we will provide training for helpers on Tor/Tails, and OONI, enabling them to lead participants more effectively on the day of the workshop to understand the importance of anonymous networks and internet freedom.

Over the next three months, we also need event planning staff to assist with coordination, promotion, registration, notifications, and other event-related tasks. We welcome shy newcomers to join us in organizing the event and gradually get to know us and the issues of anonymous networks and internet freedom.

We have set up an event page for the workshop, where the preparation tasks, schedule, and future registration will be presented. This workshop primarily targets participants from news media, independent journalists, civic groups, and the tech community. It aims to provide them with reference tools or solutions when facing severe issues related to internet freedom in their daily work.

We also hope to enhance the knowledge of those interested in Tor/Tails and OONI through this workshop! We designed a skill grading chart, and our future training hopes to elevate everyone to Basic Level 3!

Learn about the details!

If you're interested in preparing for the workshop and training helpers, feel free to reply to me directly. The recruitment information for the workshop is also simultaneously announced by the Open Culture Foundation's volunteer recruitment.