What else does a personal hotspot shield provide?

When you connected through a secure VPN your IP address becomes the one of the trusted server you are connected to. So, when you surf, the web site owner does not know who you are and cannot collect information on you based on your IP address. With the gathering of huge amounts of data in recent years via IP address, it is becoming easier every day to actually identify you based on your address. Do you really want every web site you visit to know your name and address? This ability is mushrooming.

Many places restrict access to where you can surf. By connecting through a personal hotspot shield, you are able to surf to any web site since all the requests are  outside the control of the local network owner. Many people live in foreign countries that limit their internet and IP phone access. A personal hotspot shield will get around these limitations.

I have nothing to hide.

A lot of people think that they are not doing anything on their computer that requires this level of security. Many think "I have nothing to hide."

However, if you do email and instant messaging, people can read everything written. No differently than if someone was listening to your every phone conversation or reading the mail out of your mail box. Would you mind that? Then your email and instant messaging is no different.

Do you make appointments or plan, meetings by email or instant messenger? Do you tell your friends where you are going to be at a given time? If so, you need a personal hotspot shield because the kind of person who will try and steal your data as you sit at a coffee shop is not the person you want to give your schedule to.

Recently the "Wall Street Journal" had an article on the very real and growing threat of people hijacking your data. Additionally, last year's (2007) Annual Hacker Convention in Las Vegas highlighted just how simple it is to compromise a wireless or other non secure network.