VPN= Virtual Private Network.

An example:
Universities offer their students and profs. access to electronic publications. If you access an electronic publication site from the University's library, than the University's IP address authorizes you to access the file. All campus machines wil connect to the outside world by the same IP address, enabling access to electronic publications to all machines.
Now, what if a prof wants to use this service from his home?
Easy. He installs the VPN software and goes online via his private ISP.
Now the VPN client connects to the University's server and creates a digital encrypted tunnel between the private machine and the University server. All requests that the prof sends will enter the Internet when leaving the U server. The data that is transmitted between the internet and the private machine can't be read by the private ISP because it's encrypted. The U server does of course know what you're doing.
Big corporations offer the same system for their employees who have home offices.
A similar service is also available to private persons. Usualy payable by credit card. Someone who is concerned about the privacy of his data flow and who wants to maintain the speed of his line would've to make a VPN account in a country that does not filter content and does not disclose a customers data unless he's charged with a serious crime. There's a service in Sweden which will only disclose data in case of alleged child pornography swapping or anything that will result in 2+ years jail. which does not include copyright infringements.

R'as