The widespread use of these social experiments is deeply concerning to me, and is one of the things that encourages me to avoid much of the web.

UX A/B testing is one thing. It's not wonderful, but at least it's relatively harmless. But the entire idea of experimenting on an unwitting public is rife for abuse, some of which we've already seen. Since corporations (and particularly those in the tech world) are pretty terrible at behaving with restraint and due consideration of the larger effects of their actions, meaningful regulation seems very important here.

In the meantime, I'll continue to try to sidestep these landmines.