The Android app for Facebook now officially supports Tor

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3024305/security/privacy-conscious-users-rejoice-you-can-now-use-facebooks-android-app-over-tor.html

Thoughts? Who would have thought that Facebook would allow Tor in their
settings for their official app. Crazy.

privacy conscious users...android...
what's next?
..sobriety enthusiasts...cheering for the new batch of absinthe? X_x

No...just no...

This new "feature" does literally nothing than to broadcast to facebook (and therefore whoever else, wink wink) that the individual is using Tor and therefore likely uses Tor for other browsing as well. Tor literally says not to access sites that require your username/password (assuming of course that you've not created the account using an anonymity service and therefore have accessed the account solely using that service). Furthermore, facebook's terms of service explicitly prohibit anyone from NOT using their real identity (obviously this is in direct opposition to the fundamentals of the Tor project).

Now for the counterpoint, to quote the article "Tor can help in many cases, like when you don’t want your ISP, or anyone else en route, to know that you are accessing a particular website or other type of service. It can also help when you don’t want that service to know your real IP address.
The first scenario is really important to journalists, activists and other people who work or live in countries where Internet activity is being monitored and certain websites, like Facebook, are banned."

Ok...Ahsad lives in an oppressive regime. Ahsad wishes to use facebook but it's banned in his country. Ahsad turns to facebook's app and turns on the Tor feature. Ahsad cannot risk using his real name because than his government will come and kill him (because although facebook is banned, his country uses it to search for dissenters). Ahsad must now willingly violate facebook's ToS and use a fake name or risk possible harm/death. Wow, what a great choice just to use facebook...

Why could Ahsad not use a VPN to access facebook like he probably is already? Or you know, use his VPN he uses to circumnavigate the geo-blocking that Netflix and other content providers use so he can access content only available in America? O right, because then the global data gathering conglomerate known as facebook wouldn't be able to gather metrics about users who are interested/using Tor...silly me.

Given what seems to be my negative disposition towards facebook, I actually don't mind if anyone uses it. I do however think it's imperative that if someone does choose to, they understand exactly what they are posting, how it correlates their relationships to others who may not want to be included, and that facebook is literally selling data about them because they ARE facebook's product. For example, facebook and instagram (which facebook owns) have the largest collection of images on the entire planet which they sell access to for image and facial recognition...

Who would have thought Facebook would be interested in gathering the
statistics of how many idiots would use Tor with Facebook.

Using Facebook in the first place. Just no.

privacy conscious users...android...
what's next?
..sobriety enthusiasts...cheering for the new batch of absinthe? X_x

No...just no...

This new "feature" does literally nothing than to broadcast to facebook (and
therefore whoever else, wink wink) that the individual is using Tor and
therefore likely uses Tor for other browsing as well. Tor literally says not
to access sites that require your username/password (assuming of course that
you've not created the account using an anonymity service and therefore have
accessed the account solely using that service). Furthermore, facebook's
terms of service explicitly prohibit anyone from NOT using their real
identity (obviously this is in direct opposition to the fundamentals of the
Tor project).

Now for the counterpoint, to quote the article "Tor can help in many cases,
like when you don’t want your ISP, or anyone else en route, to know that
you are accessing a particular website or other type of service. It can also
help when you don’t want that service to know your real IP address.
The first scenario is really important to journalists, activists and other
people who work or live in countries where Internet activity is being
monitored and certain websites, like Facebook, are banned."

Ok...Ahsad lives in an oppressive regime. Ahsad wishes to use facebook but
it's banned in his country. Ahsad turns to facebook's app and turns on the
Tor feature. Ahsad cannot risk using his real name because than his
government will come and kill him (because although facebook is banned, his
country uses it to search for dissenters). Ahsad must now willingly violate
facebook's ToS and use a fake name or risk possible harm/death. Wow, what a
great choice just to use facebook...

Why could Ahsad not use a VPN to access facebook like he probably is already?
Or you know, use his VPN he uses to circumnavigate the geo-blocking that
Netflix and other content providers use so he can access content only
available in America? O right, because then the global data gathering
conglomerate known as facebook wouldn't be able to gather metrics about users
who are interested/using Tor...silly me.

Given what seems to be my negative disposition towards facebook, I actually
don't mind if anyone uses it. I do however think it's imperative that if
someone does choose to, they understand exactly what they are posting, how it
correlates their relationships to others who may not want to be included, and
that facebook is literally selling data about them because they ARE
facebook's product. For example, facebook and instagram (which facebook owns)
have the largest collection of images on the entire planet which they sell
access to for image and facial recognition...

I suspect it is to get people to use Facebook in places where Facebook is
blocked, although in these places Tor is often blocked too. However, most
experienced Tor users probably know not to log in to anything like Facebook
through the network. Most people who use Tor frequently don't use Facebook
anyway, and certainly not with Tor.

Using Facebook in the first place. Just no.