[autoexec]

In the end you have to trust someone or you might as well just stay offline forever. In the US, very few people have much choice in their ISP. If you are lucky you might have more than two options. Many ISPs are known to be untrustworthy. They outright state they will mine your internet history and sell it. If I have the choice between an ISP who I know will sell my browsing history and a VPN which might, but claims not to? Well, I know which one I'm going to pick.

[thayne]

They also state they can and will shut down your service for copyright infringement.

[autoexec]

If ISPs don't shut down people's accounts they'll get sued for billions in fines. There are still open court cases against multiple ISPs for not cutting enough people off from the internet. So far, courts have agreed with the RIAA/MPA who paid good money for the laws we have.

[thayne]

Yes, the media industry is certainly more to blame here. Although, the current ISP oligopoly means that there are less companies to sue or otherwise bully. And it doesn't help that some major ISPs are owned by companies that also produce copyrighted content they want to protect.