[fricat1ve]

>the idea of being in an "elite", informed group is more important than the actual issues.

Do you mean to say it's voyeurism, i.e. the draw of being "informed"? Sitting in the eye of the panopticon?

I think people just have a tendency to focus on the positive things that might be gained from data mining. There's just a lot of naivete about how compromised an ad-supported business ultimately is.