That, however, doesn't address the question - why do you think people can't freely choose for themselves what they're doing with their data.
It's one thing to do a nastly covert data mining and another thing to go to a person and say "hey, I'll pay you to do A on THIS device with THIS app which you CLEARLY need to install and activate". One is dishonest, the other just seems like basic freedom in modern world?
I don't necessarily have an issue with people being able to choose.
However I think there is an issue of actually understanding what is being done with your data.
But still doesn't address that it isn't just your data that is being gathered up from your phone. Your consenting to at least some data from the people you text and email being grabbed up and there is nothing they can do about it except not talk to you, assuming they were to even know.
But the point of this was market research. I highly doubt anybody gives a shit, even the uptight brigade here on hackernews, about whether company X knows I'm using company Y's app. It's not like FB wants to read your private texts. They want to know what apps you're using and how you spend your time so they can make their own products better.
It's one thing to do a nastly covert data mining and another thing to go to a person and say "hey, I'll pay you to do A on THIS device with THIS app which you CLEARLY need to install and activate". One is dishonest, the other just seems like basic freedom in modern world?