blacktulip
Pregnant with mandrakes
The main thrust of what I'm getting at: there is no money in data transfer any more and mobile voice over IP is almost free once the infrastructure is in place. Therefore every phone operator in the world is facing a situation in which they need to sell targeted advertising thanks to sophisticated user profiling. Your phone operator is the one agency who knows where you are throughout the day (assuming your mobile is kept switched on... and most are), who you call and when, which web sites or services you use and when, etc.
Big network technology providers have flogged stuff on this basis for ages now... way before anyone had an iPhone and was actually living out the conspiracist's wet dream. However, phone operators are just one customer segment for them. The other main one is governments, specifically their police forces and security services. Occasionally someone causes a fuss over a network provider doing business with some nasty regime or other, but the truth is they have been in bed with the Western powers for the duration.
I've typed myself bored now but I hope you get the picture.
Big network technology providers have flogged stuff on this basis for ages now... way before anyone had an iPhone and was actually living out the conspiracist's wet dream. However, phone operators are just one customer segment for them. The other main one is governments, specifically their police forces and security services. Occasionally someone causes a fuss over a network provider doing business with some nasty regime or other, but the truth is they have been in bed with the Western powers for the duration.
I've typed myself bored now but I hope you get the picture.