Here’s why:
1. UK internet service providers are blocking access to the PirateBay.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17894176
(To be clear, I don’t think piracy is very nice, but equally I think that the film and music industries have shot themselves in the foot, by making it so hard for paying customers to buy content online. That silliness is neatly summed up here.)
2. At the same time, the government is planning to monitor everything you do online.
www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/apr/17/tim-berners-lee-monitoring-i…
Including every website you look at, and your emails. This is almost unbelievably creepy and weird.
What’s the solution?
A VPN is a secure tunnel that encrypts your traffic, and stops people seeing what you’re looking at online, or controlling what you connect to. Anyone can set up a VPN, it’s easy, and some companies are listed below: get someone to do it for you if you struggle, and remember it’s a one shot job. It’s also very cheap, in fact, some are free and ad supported, but there’s nothing wrong with paying for a good service. If you’re really techy, you can do it within your router, rather than within your computer, which makes it even easier. 
(Read more)