Because the FCC just said that it's totes fine for ISPs to sell all your personal data. FYI, the source for that piece is the Electronic Frontier Foundation, who tend to have rather Libertarian views when it comes to the interwebs.
I don't have a smart-phone but I will ask this - if your internet activities are already spied-upon with your home computer, why would this come as a shock? This is the US - everyone wants to sell you everything, all the time.
I would say get used to it really, what legitimate expectation of privacy do you have while so heavily using someone else's property? Most of what you do with a smart phone involves using other people's equipment. Oh, and let us be honest as most apps already collect this data to begin with. You agreed to it when you installed the app. Your cell phone is not a private communication device no matter how ignorant you are or how much you wish it was. If you do not like that reality do without one. Personally I don't mind focussed ads. I do not get a lot of sports ads or ads for shit like reality tv. I do get ads for things I am interested in. Finally it still is not as bad as Apple giving the police a program so they can plug your iPhone into their car computer and suck your personal data out bypassing any security you had set up. Don't make it seem like it is only Verizon and Android. They all do it.
I'm sure you've got a link for that... because as little as I like Apple, that does not sound like them.
Apple gave the FBI the finger re: designing new software to hack the San Bernardino shooter's phone last year, so I don't see this, either. But most of our software is tracking what we do and I know Facebook for sure listens to phone calls: last Easter, I called 911 after I ate way too much of some wacky tobacky candy and my leg began cramping. The very next morning I get an ad on FB for a detox program that I've never seen before or since.
