It's one thing to decide you don't care if companies want to know everything about you so as to better target ads. It's another to be completely in the dark about the degree to which all sorts of entities want data about who you are, what you like and dislike, who you associate with, and what you buy.

Media outlets have been involved in a heated debate recently about online privacy.

The Wall Street Journal, which has a record of publishing about how companies track people's online behavior, that asserts the most popular apps on Facebook gather volumes of personal information about users.

with a prompt rebuttal, saying media outlets sensationalize privacy concerns to drive page views and ad revenue and an overblown focus on worst-case scenarios rattles users to the point where they lose sight of the value they get in exchange for sharing their data.

Does the fact bother you that certain apps may request access to your friends' photos and birthdays, as well as information about things like your religious and political leanings?