At least 10,000 users have signed up for a Washington-backed peer-to-peer site designed to push holes through China’s Great Firewall.

The new service, called Lantern, promises access to sites like Facebook and Twitter. Lantern works like a P2P network. It relies on users to offer the chance for others to jump onto their virtual private network connection to the open internet.

A video explaining the service had the following:

“Lantern is a safe and secure free software that gives people internet access in places where access is denied. It’s software that circumvents government censorship. When you install Lantern on your computer you provide a new escape route for getting information in and out of censored countries. You’re giving people a way out; a way to communicate, a way to mobilise(sic).”

Brave New Software president, Adam Fisk, the non-profit company that developed Lantern, was apparently one of the men behind popular P2P platform LimeWire.

The US State Department gave the startup project US$2.2 million (£1.3m) in seed funding.

Why the need? China's Supreme Court recently clarified that popular tweets spreading "online rumours" could land the sender with up to three years in jail.