One of the things they use the data for is State of the Mobile Web (http://www.opera.com/smw/), which is generated based on log files stored in a HDFS cluster and processed with Hadoop. At least it was like this a few years ago, and as far as I know they haven't changed it. Having all this information available is certainly valuable to Opera and both their current and potential customers.
Any pressure to be more evil is countered by a few things: the scandinavian culture and the developers. In general, it is in scandinavians' nature to be nice to other people, so doing evil things don't come naturally in most cases. Really. Afer all, we're socialists. Of course there are plenty of non-scandinavians at Opera, but when I was there a few years ago the corporate culture was still scandinavian. Also, the developers have traditionally had a lot to say at Opera, probably partly because of the scandinavian culture, and partly due to corporate culture instilled by the founders. They are also very vocal about their opinions, and are against doing evil things. Actually, the Opera Mini team has been especially concerned about this.
However, Opera Mini servers are located in countries around the world, and will be subject to local laws, so use and abuse of this may not always be in Opera's hands.
Any pressure to be more evil is countered by a few things: the scandinavian culture and the developers. In general, it is in scandinavians' nature to be nice to other people, so doing evil things don't come naturally in most cases. Really. Afer all, we're socialists. Of course there are plenty of non-scandinavians at Opera, but when I was there a few years ago the corporate culture was still scandinavian. Also, the developers have traditionally had a lot to say at Opera, probably partly because of the scandinavian culture, and partly due to corporate culture instilled by the founders. They are also very vocal about their opinions, and are against doing evil things. Actually, the Opera Mini team has been especially concerned about this.
However, Opera Mini servers are located in countries around the world, and will be subject to local laws, so use and abuse of this may not always be in Opera's hands.