If Facebook users wish to browse the social network while remaining in the shadows, then the company will help them do that.
Over the next several days, Facebook, in partnership with the Tor Project, will begin to make it easier for Android mobile devices to access Facebook while cloaked by Tor,” according to Reuters.
The new Tor support is being rolled out as an experiment, a spokeswoman for the Tor project told Reuters. She added that the group of developers who maintain Tor have no plans to support Facebook’s app for Apple’s iOS.
Tor is a software that obscures IP addresses by routing traffic through an extensive network of relays. Facebook’s move is liable to peeve some in the government who wish to restrict the ability of terrorists and criminals to move around the web surreptitiously.
Facebook has offered Tor support for awhile, but is expanding it because of growing interest, the company said in a blog post. This is surprising. Why would anyone want to use Facebook anonymously? The whole idea of a social network is to be seen and to see others. Perhaps a surer way to remain anonymous would be to just stay off the site.
