History of VPNs

VPN technology was first used in 1996 when a Microsoft employee developed the PPTP. The protocol created a more secure private connection between a user device and the internet. In 1999, the specification was published.

In the early 2000s, VPNs were mostly associated with and used by businesses. The technology wasn't quite used by average online users. At this time, VPNs were being used by businesses to access private business networks. In this use case, organizations were able to access company data from anywhere while looking as if they were in the office. Secure file sharing between different offices became possible.

After this, encryption standards started to become more powerful, and new tunneling protocols were developed. As individuals started to learn about potential online threats and privacy issues, VPN use expanded to individual, at-home users. Privacy scandals, such as WikiLeaks or the separate security leaks by Edward Snowden, were injected into the modern zeitgeist. Around 2017, internet users in the United States learned that ISPs could collect and sell their browsing history, and net neutrality became a concept citizens had to fight for -- and effectively lost. A bill was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in 2019 to bring back net neutrality, but was ultimately blocked by the Senate. Since then, different states have enacted versions of net neutrality laws. With this knowledge, the use of VPNs became a more legitimate need for individuals.