If I am following this correctly, it would be similar to Google creating a Firefox extension to enable "extra privacy," but secretly pumping the data back to Google? Or if Windows Defender sent all your web usage data and keystrokes to Microsoft?
I'm not sure how this doesn't fit the definition of Spyware?
I'm sure that things like that factored into the decision to buy YouTube, for example.
Onavo was a company that tried to sell VPN access to reduce data costs, found out that didn't make money and pivoted to selling reports to publishers and advertisers.
Then FB bought them, and treated them like an internal survey organisation. It's a shame really, Onavo could have been the Neilsen of the mobile age, in another timeline.
But yeah, people use data (especially private data) to make decisions about their business and others. News at 11.
Here's one finding
> Facebook used Onavo to conduct global surveys of the usage of mobile apps by customers, > and apparently without their knowledge. They used this data to assess not just how many > people had downloaded apps, but how often they used them. This knowledge helped them to > decide which companies to acquire, and which to treat as a threat
Here's Onavo's wikipedia page last edited in October
> Facebook has leveraged Onavo's analytics platform to monitor the performance of its competitors, > target companies for acquisition, and make other business decisions.
> Media outlets classify Onavo as spyware.