Figuring out the future of online privacy                          2/29/13

 What level of privacy will we have online in the future? Public changes to privacy policies, like the ones that make news when Facebook or Google change their settings, are just a small part of the story. Companies that provide free services, such as search engines or social networks, have to strike the right balance between respecting their customers' privacy concerns and serving advertisers. For Web titans, the money still flows in from advertisers, not consumers. Facebook made $4.2 billion, or 84% of its revenue, from online advertising in 2012. Google saw $43.6 billion in advertising last year, accounting for almost 95% of the company's reve