&gt; <i>Right now the global perception of trust is declining in nearly every major institution, and in the eyes of many who do not live in code, Silicon Valley is just one more group of rich elites</i><p>I&#x27;d argue that people who are not intimately familiar with the tech world see the tech as just a set of products that does things for them, with the additional filter of the mainstream media and their friends&#x2F;family on top of it.<p>Most people don&#x27;t know what kind of data is being gathered about them, and they don&#x27;t care about the implications of that data.  To be fair, it is a difficult thing to conceptualize and quantify.  Facebook provides a great service to connect with friends and family.  The question is - what&#x27;s the price?