This allows, for example, expatriate or travelling internet users to unlock content exclusive to their country from abroad. This is an essential feature that allows the opposition to actively fight against the disinformation put in place by totalitarian regimes, while minimising the risk of suspicious arrests and disappearances of politicians, activists, journalists and human rights defenders.įinally, installed on macOS, a VPN facilitates access to content from streaming services (Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, HBO), television (Canal+, France TV, BBC) or gaming (PS Now, Xbox Game Pass). In addition to enhancing Internet security and privacy, most VPNs offer the ability to bypass state-sponsored cyber-censorship in authoritarian countries such as China, Iran and Russia.

By extension, it becomes very difficult for advertisers and other data brokers to track and profile Internet users for targeted advertising. Using a VPN on Apple operating systems therefore allows Mac users to hide the details of their online activities from their ISP and hackers (encrypted tunnel), but also to keep their identity secret from the web platforms they are visiting (substitute IP address). The secure connection passes through a VPN server, which decrypts the secure data packets, assigns a new IP address to the user (that of the VPN server in question) and sends the request back to the web servers being queried. In detail, a Virtual Private Network (VPN) encrypts traffic and routes it from the device to the public Internet via a tunnel, also encrypted, isolated from the rest of the standard HTTPS traffic.

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