It appears that it decides for itself when to go direct and when to circumvent. This will limit bandwidth usage and the ability of bad guys to exploit it as an open web proxy, assuming they are good at software.
On the minus side, observer at the Great Firewall can probably learn a lot about Lantern users, unless the Lantern software is really careful.
On the minus side, observer at the Great Firewall can probably learn a lot about Lantern users, unless the Lantern software is really careful.