> Advertising has been profitable without spying for many, many decades.
So was the horse drawn carriage. Where is that industry now?
George Orwell could not have conceived a time where everyone was voluntarily carrying an electronic billboard in their pocket. But we are in that world, and that world no longer has room for the Mad Men/Ogilvy/Chiat Day era of ad agencies creating one-size fits all campaigns. Google and Facebook took them out over the past 15 years.
Spying just makes it more profitable. Most of the world would be fine with Larry, Sergey and Mark only being able to afford one mega yacht apiece.