from SF Gate.
Companies like Google and Facebook are increasing compromising their privacy concerns in favor of selling your data to marketing companies. You mistakenly thought that they were providing data information to you and promoting social connections for you--you know, like some kind of public service. That, of course, is the way they started to promote themselves. But both companies are private enterprises, and as such, profit concerns require a different focus. That accounts for this evolution into selling your private information to big corporations.