Sure they are worth 19 Billion $$… Just look at the revenue FB creates. Also WA could (but I don’t know if they do, but Google does) get much more info than just the metadata, like:
- Count your steps, step speed, using the gyrometer, then measure activity, health
- Detect mental health issues by the way you hold your phone, typing style, etc.
- Detect whether you are in a car or not
- Detect proximity of other devices, calculate friend networks from it
There is a cool open-source app that lets you see how psycho profiling works. Its called Data Selfie… watch the video.
Note you are also secretly tracked by ultrasound software embedded in apps, TV’s and other devices! Sounds unbelievable, far-fetched… yet it is true and happily applied for shady purposes (there are also good applications).