@JohnBrady In the Economist: *It is testimony to America’s unmatched power that hundreds of the world’s richest and most influential people elbowed their way into a room this week to listen to [redacted] ramble, lie and insult them for more than an hour.”
@JohnBrady I started writing something similar in spirit, but focusing on the pettiness of [redacted]. It was nowhere near as good and succinct at this.
@ReaderJohn I cannot rule out surveillance, but I suspect it’s just that maintaining an app for iOS and an app for Android is much, much simpler than trying to work with countless versions of web browsers and multiple operating system platforms. 
@ReaderJohn I’m sure that’s true; also I would think for financial services the security is easier on a phone.
@dwalbert I don’t understand the technology on that, but since the apps drop two-factor authentication, there’s got to be something to it.
@ReaderJohn For places like fast food joints, I think the surveillance is very much the point. They want location permissions because they want to charge more if they’re the closest restaurant, but less if you’d drive past a competitor to get there.
@philipbrewer They want to use the location to figure out where you work, so they know when your payday is, and offer you a cheap deal for cheap food, if it’s the day before payday, and then offer you an expensive deal for fancier food, if it’s the day after.