I don't really understand your point about authenticated API's. It seems like twitters API is just authenticated because they want control over the apps that a

I don't really understand your point about authenticated API's. It seems like twitters API is just authenticated because they want control over the apps that access use it, and not expressly for user's privacy. For example, this trends map (http://trendsmap.com/ http://trendsmap.com/) is presumably based on twitters API, has location data, and is open for anyone to access.