Facebook adds Built-in Tor support for its Android App

Rejoice for Privacy Lovers!

Facebook today took a surprising move by announcing that it is bringing the free anonymizing software TOR support to its Android app, almost two years after the social network planned to make Facebook available directly over Tor network.

Yes. Believe it or not, the Android version of the popular Facebook application now supports the Tor anonymity network.

In October 2014, Facebook launched a .onion website on TOR in order to let its users around the world access its service more securely.

Access Facebook over TOR via Orbot

This latest move to expand that access to the Android app opens up the option to millions more users to maintain their privacy when they visit the world's most popular social network.

Facebook says "a sizeable community of people" are already accessing the site over TOR, so the company is bringing this feature to Android via the free Orbot proxy app, which is available on the Google's Play Store.

"We commonly receive requests for additional platform support beyond the browser,"reads the announcement, "...we are now offering experimental support for using Facebook over Tor via the Orbot proxy app for Android devices."

How to Use Facebook Over TOR?

• In order to access Facebook over TOR, Download Orbot proxy app from the Play Store.
• Now open Facebook app and Select "Use Tor via Orbot" in the app's Settings menu.

That's it. Now you are connected to Facebook's Tor hidden service that will mask your real IP address and will stop your internet service provider (ISP) from seeing when you visit Facebook.

Moreover, this new feature could potentially allow users to access the social network site even if it is blocked in their country, like China and Iran.

Facebook says that the company is releasing this new feature "over the next few days," so do not expect to see the pop-up right now. 

And as the feature is currently in the experimental stage, flaws and other issues may occur.

France won't Ban TOR & Free Wi-Fi

Despite the French Ministry of Interior's demands, France will not ban the TOR anonymity network or Free public Wi-Fi as a way to help the law enforcement fight terrorism.

French Prime Minister Manual Valls has gone on record saying that a ban on Free public Wi-Fi is "not a course of action envisaged," and he is not in favor of banning the TOR anonymity network, either.

Following the deadly terror attacks on Paris last month, an internal document obtained by Le Monde indicated that French government wanted to block communications of TOR as well as ban the use of Free Public Wi-Fi during states of emergency in an effort to fight terrorism more efficiently.

TOR and Free Wi-Fi Safe in France, PM Says 

"A ban of [free public] Wi-Fi is not a course of action envisaged [and never has been]," Valls said (translated) on Wednesday. 

Neither he is in favor of banning the TOR network, which encrypts and re-routes user traffic through a network of volunteer-operated servers, masking the real identities of users.

"Internet is a Freedom, is an extraordinary means of communication between people, it is a benefit to the economy," Valls added. "It's also a means for terrorists to communicate and spread their totalitarian ideology."

Therefore, he said the police must take some measures to improve their fight against terrorism in light of recent Paris attacks, but whatever measures they take to combat terrorism "must be effective."

The whole world response to recent Paris attacks involves lawmakers in the United States and Europe calling for new laws on technology, forcing the tech companies to put "backdoors" in their products and hand over encryption keys to the government on court orders.

France wants to BAN TOR & Free Wi-Fi Services

Now this was to be done, Sooner or Later – The Government.

In the wake of the recent deadly Paris terror attacks, the French government is considering new laws that would Ban access to Free Wi-Fi and the Tor anonymity network, according to a recent report by French newspaper Le Monde.

The report cites an internal document from the Ministry of Interior by French Department of Civil Liberties and Legal Affairs (DLPAJ) that lists two proposed bills – one around the State of Emergency and the other on combating counter-terrorism.

Last month's Paris attacks started blame games, calling Edward Snowden and end-to-end encrypted services responsible for the ISIS-sponsored massacre.

Now, the government has started renewing their assault on encryption and reviving their efforts to force tech companies to hand over encryption keys, and the document obtained by Le Monde hints the same.

Proposed Pieces of Legislation

State of Emergency Proposal: In this law, the French government is considering to Forbid the use of Free and Shared Wi-Fi connections during a state of emergency. Also, if the owners of public Wi-Fi networks did not disconnect, they could face criminal penalties.

According to the police, the reason behind restricting access to free or shared Wi-Fi is that it is apparently difficult to track suspects who use public Wi-Fi networks to communicate, so the law would shut down public Wi-Fi hotspots during a state of emergency.

The state of emergency increases the powers of the police in the country. During the state of emergency, French police may search residences without a warrant, tighten border controls, and even ban public protests.

Proposal for Combating Counter-Terrorism: This legislation proposal says the government is banning or blocking communications of the Tor network as well as requiring service providers to hand over encryption keys to police – not just during a state of emergency.

Indeed, in this section of the document, the Department of Civil Liberties and Legal Affairs questioned whether such proposed pieces of legislation might violate the French Constitution.

The Onion Router, or TOR, is an anonymising network maintained by volunteers, which routes users’ data requests globally, making it very hard (but not impossible) to discover the actual user behind the computer screen.

Tor is an easy tool to hide your real identity on the Internet and is used not only by journalists, whistleblowers, and privacy concerned people, but also by terrorists, pedophiles, and cyber criminals.

Both pieces of legislation, according to Le Monde, could appear as soon as January 2016.

If block, France would be the first European country to block TOR. Though there is no easy way to block the anonymising network, China and Iran have both made successful attempts to block TOR.