• The New York Times, Friday, April 23, 2010 2:21 PM

From Facebook to Foursquare, The New York Times looks at the new culture of information sharing, and the companies betting their success on consumers' willingness to go along for the (sure to be bumpy) ride. "A wave of Web start-ups aims to help people indulge their urge to divulge," writes reporter Brad Stone. "These start-ups are exploiting a mood of online openness, despite possible hidden dangers."

Chris Conley, a technology and civil liberties fellow at the American Civil Liberties Union, tells Stone: "People are not necessarily thinking about how long this information will stick around, or how it could be used and exploited by marketers." And thieves. Ironically, one startup that Stone features in his story -- a social buying service named Blippy -- was subsequently found to be revealing users' credit card numbers on Google.

Read the whole story at The New York Times »