"the information age has brought unmatched and unmeasurable utility to common people, in the form of free services provided by tech companies, to everyone (take

"the information age has brought unmatched and unmeasurable utility to common people, in the form of free services provided by tech companies, to everyone (take a second to let it sink in just how unprecedented this is for a hugely valuable service, like Google search, to be provided to anybody with a Internet connection)" Google's value is in driving ads to search, perhaps you refer the Google of old that gave results less weighted in commerce. Utility? Perhaps, it is out there if one can find a signal through all the noise. I do agree, it is indeed unprecedented. At the cost of privacy, however, it is hardly "free": http://adage.com/article/datadriven-marketing/24-billion-data-business-telcos-discuss/301058/ http://adage.com/article/datadriven-marketing/24-billion-dat...