Stands for "Virtual Private Network". Basically these are generally a service you pay a modest fee to use such that your computer connects through an encrypted "tunnel" to the Internet so that your ISP and other interested parties can't block or tell the sites you're visiting.Originally Posted by kagura
Imagine that you could pay a friend in a liberal country, ex: The Netherlands, to use his open and free computer to access the Net of which your connection to his machine is encrypted; your Internet Service Provider and country only see a data connection to your PC but they have no way of knowing the content that's coming through or really blocking cause its so obscure.
Say similar goes for someone in China wanting to know more about Tienamen Square; they can't access on the Internet cause the government has the sites blocked, but they could call their friend in Canada on the phone and ask them to research for them online without the government being likely to pick up on.
Basically, VPN is just a "secret" way to get at the information you want to access. And its used all the time, ex: most corporations want their employees to be able to access the company computer network, but don't want company info traveling over the open Web, so you setup a secure connection, a VPN, so that someone's laptop out on the road can "tunnel" into the company network to access things.
Reply With Quote
