In the wake of the housing market crash in the U.S. and the subsequent financial crisis, the Obama administration created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.  The Bureau is using crowd-sourcing technology to collect tips from millions of consumers about deceptive new financial practices, from misleading mortgages and improper “gotcha” fees on credit cards to outright fraud.

We should know within a matter of weeks if WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is extradited from England to Sweden, where he faces sexual assault charges. But even if Assange ends up behind bars and has his website taken down, others will be happy to take his place. Think of the whack-a-mole game at the arcade. Hit one on the head and another will pop up.

WikiLeaks is just one example of why I say we are entering an era of hyper-transparency. Courtesy of the Internet, people everywhere have at their fingertips the most powerful tool ever for finding out what's really going and informing others. They are gaining unprecedented access to all sorts of information about governments, corporations and other organizations in society.