Tor Is Ending Its Cloud Service and Here’s Why

Tor announced in a blog post on Thursday that it would be discontenting its cloud service which runs on Amazon EC2 platform. As seen on the blog page.

The main reason for discontinuing Tor Cloud is the fact that software requires maintenance, and Tor Cloud is no exception. There is at least one major bug in the Tor Cloud image that makes it completely dysfunctional (meaning that users could not use this particular service to access the Internet), and there are over a dozen other bugs, at least one of them of highest priority. Probably as a result of these bugs, the number of Tor Cloud bridges has steadily declined since early 2014.

Tor also noted that by discounting its Cloud project, other Tor Cloud instances would not be affected. Whenever an instance is started, a template of the operating system and settings gets copied, and eliminating the template has no effect on copies.

In their official blog post, Tor explained the primary reason for ending the Tor Cloud service: “The main reason for discontinuing Tor Cloud is the fact that software requires maintenance, and Tor Cloud is no exception.”

The project faced significant technical challenges:

• One major bug rendered the service completely dysfunctional, preventing users from accessing the Internet through this service
• Over a dozen additional bugs were identified, with at least one marked as highest priority
• The number of Tor Cloud bridges had been steadily declining since early 2014, likely due to these technical issues

Tor reassured users that discontinuing the Cloud project would not affect existing Tor Cloud instances. When an instance is started, a template of the operating system and settings gets copied. Eliminating the template has no effect on these copies, meaning current users can continue running their bridges without interruption.

Launched as an experimental project, Tor Cloud was designed to provide an easy way for volunteers to contribute to the Tor network by running bridge relays using Amazon’s EC2 infrastructure. The service offered pre-configured images that simplified the process of setting up and maintaining Tor bridge relays in the cloud.

While the announcement may disappoint some community members, the Tor Project emphasized that users can still run Tor bridges through traditional methods. The discontinuation of Tor Cloud doesn’t affect the broader Tor network or the ability of users to contribute to network privacy and freedom.

The decision reflects the challenges of maintaining complex cloud infrastructure projects, especially for non-profit organizations with limited resources. Tor continues to focus on improving its core privacy tools while encouraging community members to explore alternative ways to support the network.

The Tor Project remains committed to its mission of protecting online privacy and circumventing censorship, even as it makes difficult decisions about which projects to prioritise.