For years I have warned about this, for years I have stated that these companies are not to be trusted, that they are listening to your every movement and tracking you in real time, selling your information to the highest bidder. For years, people scoffed at this idea, they laughed it off, until recently. People were outraged to hear that Facebook and other social media giants were indeed selling your information, they were gathering, collecting and packaging it to ad sponsors, but why were they shocked? Why couldn't they see the reality that was clearly in front of their eyes? Because ignorance is bliss. [Full article]

"The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind." - Edward L. Bernays