You may have already run into one of the many problems that a VPN can fix if you’ve ever tried to visit a website and gotten a message saying “this content is not available in your country.”
What is a VPN, though, and why is it so important for people who use the internet every day?
Getting the Basics Down
VPN stands for for “Virtual Private Network.” In short, it’s a service that encrypts your internet connection and sends it through a remote server. This hides your real IP address and gives you one from the server’s location. Imagine it as a safe, private tunnel between your device and the internet: no one outside of that tunnel can see what is going through it.
Without a VPN, your Internet Service Provider (ISP) can see everything you do online including the websites you visit, the videos you stream, and the files you download.
Once you connect to a VPN server like NordVPN, your data is wrapped in an encrypted “outer packet” before it goes to its destination. The outer layer is taken off when it gets there, and the data is decrypted. Your ISP only sees a jumbled mess that can’t be read, and websites only see the IP address of the VPN server, not yours.
Not Just Privacy
A VPN’s main promise is to protect your online privacy but it can do a lot more than just hide your browsing history. One of the main reasons people use VPNs these days is to get around government censorship and geo-restrictions. For example, China blocks more than 300,000 sites such as Google, Facebook and TikTok. A VPN with obfuscation features makes VPN traffic look like regular internet traffic and lets people in these countries access the open web as if the restrictions weren’t there.
But censorship isn’t just something that happens in authoritarian countries. Content restrictions are getting stricter in more liberal democracies, especially when it comes to adult content. As part of regulatory crackdowns, many major adult platforms in Australia are no longer accessible. France has also blocked a number of adult websites and this trend was covered by the French tech news site Journal du Geek in their guide on VPN, which shows how more and more French internet users are using VPNs to get around blocked content. These examples show a bigger trend: as governments around the world tighten their grip on what people can do online, VPNs are becoming less of a niche tool and more of a must-have for everyone.
The good news is that you don’t need to be a tech expert to use a VPN: NordVPN, ExpressVPN and Surfshark are three services that offer simple apps for all major platforms, including Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android. Most providers also give you 30 days to get your money back so it’s easy to try it without any risk.
