"Is it plausible that this practice is widespread, and getting moreso? Sure, it’s plausible. Our privacy erodes every day, and millions of us do it through Facebook willingly. The story has the feel of truthiness. Doesn’t it just seem like the thing that Big Business would do to us? We already piss in cups to prove that we’re drug-free so that we can come in and shuffle paper."
I think that the reason that the Facebook issue blew up so well is that it touches on two major fears that people have, at least one of which is entirely reasonable. It's the fear that corporations control everything and aren't accountable to the law. As far as I'm concerned, that's a reasonable and well-founded fear. I grant the author's point that the issue at hand may be over-hyped, but I think that the fact that people are so worried that it's easy to press that particular button, should definitely tell us something about how much inappropriate power corporations have, and how little accountability.