Online privacy issues are a big deal nowadays, and for good reason. Companies like Facebook and the rest seem to think they can do what they like with our information, under cover of a flimsy veneer of privacy ethics. For most people this increasing intrusion is less than optimal, and for citizens of certain countries it can literally mean the difference between life and death. Even when we’re given the power to manage our privacy settings, there’s always a danger that these social networks will ignore our rights and hand over private data and conversations instantly to any government official wielding a legal paper or machine gun.

It’s nice to see someone fight back then with a freeware extension for the Chrome web browser called Encrypt Facebook. The addon works by integrating a full AES256 encryption engine into the browser, which is geared towards Facebook chats. To use it, you click on an icon next to the address bar, enter the Facebook group details and a keyphrase and hit save. From then on when you enter the group you can encrypt your comments and posts, by simply highlighting the text before you post.

The result is a bunch of gobbledegook which no-one else can read unless they have the extension installed and know the keyphrase; which means more secure conversations, something that can be really important in the more brutal dictatorship countries. Simple but effective.