The United States has no government-level internet censorship — but that's the only piece of good news. Since 2017, US ISPs have been legally allowed to sell their customers' browsing history to advertisers and data brokers, with no opt-out for most subscribers. Comcast, Spectrum, AT&T, and Verizon all monetise this data through their own ad-tech subsidiaries.
The US is also the founding member of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance (with the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand) and the Fourteen Eyes that includes most of Western Europe. The legal basis for warrantless surveillance is the FISA Section 702 framework, which was reauthorised in 2024 for another two years. NSA bulk collection of metadata from US carriers ended in 2020 (officially), but the legal architecture remains.
For an American user, the practical implication is this: your ISP knows every website you visit, the US government can request that data under FISA, and your behavioural profile is sold to advertisers. A VPN encrypts the link between your device and a GhostShield server, so your ISP sees only encrypted traffic to a single IP — not the dozens of sites you actually visit.
International Privacy Standards
Internet freedom varies significantly by country. Organizations like Freedom House track global internet freedom annually, while the EU's GDPR has set new standards for data protection worldwide. Reporters Without Borders monitors press freedom and digital access restrictions globally.
A VPN helps you maintain consistent privacy protections regardless of which country you're browsing from, ensuring your data stays encrypted and your activity stays private.
The privacy landscape in United States
The US privacy threat model has three tiers. At the bottom is commercial tracking — your ISP and Big Tech build behavioural profiles for ad targeting. This is the everyday risk that affects 100% of Americans.
The middle tier is law enforcement requests. Federal and state law enforcement issue thousands of subpoenas and search warrants to ISPs each year, mostly under the Stored Communications Act. The data they receive includes IP logs, connection metadata, and (with a warrant) content.
The top tier is national-security surveillance under FISA Section 702 and Executive Order 12333. This isn't a concern for ordinary users, but it underscores that the US legal framework supports broad collection. GhostShield's RAM-only architecture and no-logs policy means there's nothing on our servers to hand over even if subpoenaed — the data simply doesn't exist after each reboot.
Top reasons people use a VPN in United States
Streaming is the dominant US use case. Netflix's US library is the largest in the world, but Americans abroad lose access — a VPN with a US exit restores it. Sports blackouts are the other major motivation: MLB.tv, NFL Game Pass, and NBA League Pass enforce regional blackouts even within the US, and a VPN to an out-of-market city restores the feed.
Privacy from ISP surveillance is the second pillar. With ISP data resale legal under the 2017 rollback of FCC privacy rules, a VPN is the only practical defence. Public WiFi protection (hotels, airports, cafés) is the third: GhostShield's WireGuard tunnel encrypts every packet, so a malicious actor on the same WiFi can't sniff your traffic.
The fourth and growing use case is state-level content restrictions. Texas, Louisiana, and several other states now require age verification for adult content. Some users prefer a VPN exit in a state without these laws over uploading government ID to verify their age.