It used to be that a business could generate substantial profits by keeping its customers in the dark. But sooner or later practices like those will put your company in as much jeopardy as a Middle Eastern dictator. If you want to stay out of the line of fire, your best course of action is to protect the interests of your customer, proactively.

How will technology change our electoral process? Fast Company gets Crystal Ballin' with Keya Danenbaum, the founder of ElectNext, which applies the techniques of dating websites to representative democracy.

The same country that helped give Bjork her voice hands over its guiding document to everyday citizens. But at its heart, the experiment in social media confuses democracy with transparency, a leading expert in participatory government tells Fast Company.

Is that little "neighborhood" group funded by the Koch brothers? With Inbox Influence you can see who gave what to whom in political contributions.

Google is the keeper of the web democracy. But if it shows even the slightest sign of abusing its power, then retribution could be swift and devastating.

"The key for us is to help them understand what the tools are and then for them to adopt and adapt them for their own purposes," Alec Ross, Hillary Clinton’s senior advisor for innovation, tells us.