The crowd

Crowd sourcing is a very profitable field. It is basically making other people do you r work for you, for free. Google has nailed this type of work. Based on the data they collect they make applications more user friendly, in doing so they have essentially cut out the middle man. Google Maps is one application people use daily that helps everyone. As the official Google Blog mentions, "When we combine your speed with the speed of other phones on the road, across thousands of phones moving around a city at any given time, we can get a pretty good picture of live traffic conditions". So some companies do use it for good. A lot of industries are getting nailed for this because they are abusing their customers and collecting sensitive data. Google knows not to step into that realm as the backlash could cost them billions of dollars.

Data mining is quite the lucrative field if you're a small company though. A lot of apps ask for access to your location and spending habits. amazon uses this to show you things that maybe you would like to buy. It allows for them to move more product and get more companies on their supply list.



google blog:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/bright-side-of-sitting-in-traffic.html