[api]

Mobile is all about surveillance as near as I can see. The whole purpose of it is to track users.

[BurningFrog]

There were mobile phones decades before any of this existed.

[krageon]

And to the extent that this was practical, they have always been used for surveillance.

[BurningFrog]

Maybe I'm splitting hairs, but that's definitely not their primary purpose, which is what I think OP was saying.

Sure, once they exist, there are secondary effects who are important in themselves.

[api]

Yeah I guess people carrying around transmitters is too easy to exploit for surveillance and it's just irresistible.

[kevin_thibedeau]

How else should a telescreen function?

[mrgreenfur]

I think the push to apps was to get persistent tracking while offering the user the olive branch of new apis/better battery life/etc. The browser is a prophylactic against apps and their uncontrolled behaviors.