An internet service provider in the US can collect their users’ data and sell it. That’s a great deal for data brokers, who buy your data and sell it to marketers (and others).
We have known since the Snowden leaks that the NSA is going after your data. They aren’t alone though: new reveals show that the Defense Intelligence Agency has been buying data from brokers to bypass warrant requests, and the CIA has been collecting bulk data forever. The good news is that a VPN connection encrypts your data and routes it via a VPN server to functionally give you a new IP address, hiding your online life from prying eyes.