Searches for virtual private networks (VPN) on Google doubled in five years after Congress voted to kill all restrictions stopping internet service providers (ISPs) from selling people's browsing history to highest bidder.

The U.S. Congress on March 29 voted to repeal the broadband privacy rules adopted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which required ISPs to seek the consent of customers before using their data for advertising or marketing purposes.

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The House of Representative's 212-205 vote in favor of the repeal followed the Senate' vote to revoke the rule last week, much to the disappointment of privacy advocates.

The bill still awaits the approval of President Donald Trump before it can become law, but as the news sinks in,  U.S. citizens are looking for counter-measures, with searches for VPNs skyrocketing.

Based on the data from Google Trends, Torrent Freak noted that the interest for the search term 'VPN' across the U.S. has doubled.

As the chart implies, a record number of people are now learning about VPNs, and influential people from the Internet commerce space are coming out to encourage the use of the tool

A few hours after the vote, Twitter general counsel Vijaya Gadde Tweeted: "Time to start using a VPN."

VPNs provide private end-to-end Internet connections and counteracts snooping ISPs when devices are connected to public Wi-Fi.

The Next Web, however, cautioned that the approach might not be as efficient as everyone seems to think. It warned that not all VPN services are devoted to strictly protecting your privacy.

Resorting to free proxy tools "might not even be a smart move as free providers have even more incentive than ISPs to sell your browsing history," Next Web reported.