This is so wrong. An ISP is not meant to interject information into a client's request, build profiles of their subscribers, help "provide targeted content," or any such activity. Apparently ISPs are making so little money by providing services they were originally born to provide, they need to go and do totally unwanted activity like this. They're internet service providers, not customer profiling service providers.
It's clear that these companies do not have their customer's best interests at heart, though I'm not sure that they ever have.
Furthermore the notion that the addition of an HTTP header to the request would be a patentable invention is absurd. The protocol explicitly supports it. Nothing was invented here.
> They're internet service providers, not customer profiling service providers.
Google is a search engine and application provider, not a customer profiling service provider. Similar things could be said of Facebook, cable/satellite TV, automobiles, retail stores, government agencies. But all are focusing on collecting information and building profiles.
It's clear that these companies do not have their customer's best interests at heart, though I'm not sure that they ever have.