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One of Tor’s earliest participants leaving

TorLucky Green, one of Tor’s earliest participants, has decided to leave the Tor project.

It seems new director has shaken up some trees, and members of the board were replaced just a few weeks ago.

Lucky wrote a message that was then sent to the Tor mailing list.

“Given recent events, it is no longer appropriate for me to materially contribute to the Tor Project either financially, as I have so generously throughout the years, nor by providing computing resources,” he wrote. “I feel that I have no reasonable choice left within the bounds of ethics but to announce the discontinuation of all Tor-related services hosted on every system under my control. Most notably, this includes the Tor node Tonga, the Bridge Authority, which I recognize is rather pivotal to the network.”

He added that Tonga will be shut down for good on Aug. 31, 2016. The delay is to allow Tor developers time to create and implement a substitute. Lucky Green also noted that he will be ending several Tor relays as well, although that should not cause as much disruption.

Tonga is critical to Tor functionality since the address is hard coded into the Tor browser. This is done to prevent ISP blocking.

We may never know why Lucky Green changed his status with the anonymity network. But we do know that Tor must create another bridge authority quickly to avoid further turmoil and to avoid losing customers who were dependent on Lucky’s tools.

Originally posted on Security Intelligence