Google Mobile recently eliminated the notice at the bottom of search results that it adapts linked pages for the user’s phone (though it’s still in the terms.) 

As I’ve written in the past, intercepting the user’s browsing session to reformat pages in this fashion has impacts in terms of privacy, functionality, and content ownership.

• Privacy: Unless users read the terms of service, users may not be aware that their session is potentially being logged by Google.
• Functionality: Some sites break after reformatting (due to cookie domain issues, for example)
• Content ownership: Advertisements and formatting on modified sites are potentially impacted or eliminated.

My objection is not to reformatting per se– obviously, Berry411 does exactly that, though only for a clearly defined and labeled set of pages.  My objection is the fact that the user has no ability to opt out of the reformatting and proxying in Google Mobile search, and that many users will be unaware of what exactly is happening.

For this reason, Google results as viewed through Berry411 now put control back in the hands of the users.  The default is not to reformat linked pages; a link at the bottom of the page allows the user to turn reformatting on and off and this setting is remembered persistently across sessions. 

(On a vaguely related note, there is one other new persistent preference available in B411 local search results– you can choose whether or not you want dialed phone numbers saved in your search history for convenient access. This option is available through the preferences link at the top of the page.)