AdAge reports (subscription required) that:
Sprint Nextel, having announced its intention to allow ads on its mobile web pages, is planning to offer marketers information about its subscribers, including hometown, sex and other factors.
"We have information to better target by sex, address" and other subscriber data that will allow marketers to optimize the channel and reduce the cost of sales, said Paul Reddick, VP-business development/planning and strategy at Sprint. For example, marketers selling sports apparel could feature a customer’s hometown team.
Privacy guidelines
He said Sprint would abide by strict privacy guidelines, and not reveal information about specific individuals to marketers or to media companies. Sprint also will control the flow of advertisements, so marketers will get enough ads to "burn in" their messages but won’t be allowed to "burn out" subscribers, he said.
As an average-Joe consumer, I’m skeptical of the thought of large telecom companies making money by brokering my personal data. I’d prefer if they asked me first before selling such data, not through fine legal print, but through overt permission. Well, that goes for any company.