Social media sites, like Facebook, are tracking your every move, whether you're chatting with friends, swapping photos or updating your profile. The social media mega-site is there, sifting through your most personal information for any little tidbit an advertiser can use and selling it to the highest bidder.

Is it electronic eavesdropping or just business as usual? We asked Nicco Mele, a social media expert who teaches at Harvard's Kennedy School.  FULL POST

With Obama's birth documents in hand, Eliot Spitzer challenges real estate mogul and potential 2012 GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump to show "your certification of net worth," concluding a discussion about Trump's net worth with Floyd Norris, chief financial correspondent of The New York Times, and Amir Korangy, founder and publisher of The Real Deal. FULL POST

Real estate mogul and potential 2012 GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump touted his net worth as a selling point over likely presidential contender and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

"I'm a much bigger business man and have (a) much, much bigger net worth. I mean, my net worth is many, many, many times Mitt Romney," Trump said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union." "I built a very big net worth and I'd like to put that ability ... to work for this country."

How much is the Donald really worth? We ask Floyd Norris, chief financial correspondent of The New York Times, and Amir Korangy, founder and publisher of The Real Deal.

The number of the day is 45 percent.

Given that this is Tax Day, this is the number you’ll hear over and over again today.

It’s the percentage of folks who DON’T pay income taxes. FULL POST

ONLY ON THE BLOG: Answering today’s OFF-SET questions is Phil Angelides, Chairman of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.

Angelides was elected as California's State Treasurer and served from 1999-2007. According to his web biography, “As early as 2002, he warned of excesses and abuses in the nation's financial markets, mobilizing pension funds and investors across the country to push for reforms, fight fraud, curb egregious executive compensation, and expand shareholder and investor rights. He was a consistent and forceful voice against California's deficit spending and excessive borrowing.”

Angelides is scheduled to appear In The Arena on Monday, April 18, 2011, as part of our special series, "They Got Away With It."

Background: The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission was charged in 2009 to examine “the causes of the financial and economic crisis in the United States,” to probe the collapse of the major financial institutions that were ultimately rescued with taxpayer money, and report its findings to Congress and the American people. Angelides and his staff reviewed millions of pages of documents, interviewed more than 700 witnesses, examined the findings of other investigative bodies, and held 19 days of public hearings across the country. FULL POST

ONLY ON THE BLOG: Answering today’s OFF-SET questions is Parag Khanna, Senior Research Fellow in the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation.

Parag Khanna is author of the international best-seller The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order, which has been translated into over a dozen languages. During 2007 he was a senior geopolitical advisor to United States Special Operations Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.  In 2008 he was named one of Esquire’s 75 Most Influential People of the 21^st Century, and one of fifteen individuals featured in WIRED magazine’s “Smart List.” He also served in the foreign policy advisory group to the Barack Obama for President campaign.

We’re turning to Khanna because of this news: Greg Mortenson, the high-profile advocate of girls' education in Afghanistan and Pakistan, has been forced to defend his best-selling book "Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations ... One School at a Time," after a Sunday night report on 60 Minutes that questioned how he is running his non-profit organization and the veracity of the stories in his book.

Khanna is scheduled to appear In The Arena in the near future.

You have supported the Central Asia Institute, and also introduced Mortenson at a prominent private event at the 92nd Street YMCA in NYC in 2009. Recently, he provided the endorsement which appears on the cover of your new book.  First of all, how well do you know him?

Not very well—personally. I met him a few times. I have interacted with him and learned about his work, and we’ve shared stories about our travels together. As you know, I have worked for the U.S.military, and it’s well-known that they are great admirers of his, with good reason: he has had great success with building trust among local people to find common objectives like educating girls and building schools. FULL POST

ONLY ON THE BLOG: Answering today’s OFF-SET questions is Kate Middleton.

No, not the Catherine Elizabeth “Kate” Middleton who is scheduled to wed Prince William of Wales on April 29, 2011 at Westminster Abbey in London.

We’re talking with the Kate Middleton who manages ATA Cycle, a full-service pro bike shop in Concord, Massachusetts.

How did you get your name?

My mother is a highly-perceptive individual.  She knew one day the name would take me somewhere.  In all seriousness though, she wanted something Irish without a nickname.

When did you first become aware there was another Kate Middleton, one who was dating a member of British royalty?

About six years ago a potential employer Googled my name as a sort of modern day background check.  He called me in and said, "I didn't know you were dating Prince William."  I was not aware of this either.  I Googled my own name and there she was, the other Kate Middleton of England attached to the arm of Prince William. FULL POST

ONLY ON THE BLOG: Answering today's OFF-SET questions is Billie H. Vincent, president an CEO of Aerospace Services International.

Vincent founded ASI after retiring from more than 33 years of U.S. Government service in aviation. During his government career, he advanced from an air traffic controller through a variety of FAA senior management positions including Chief of the New York Air Route Traffic Control Center, Special Assistant to the FAA Administrator for Aviation Standards, Chief of FAA Training, and Director, Office of Civil Aviation Security.

He has testified before the U.S. Congress on the strengths and weaknesses of the U.S. civil aviation security effort. He also provided expert testimony and data to two Presidential Commissions: President Bush's Commission on Aviation Security and Terrorism (1989/1990) and the President Clinton's White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security (1996/1997).

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced Sunday that the FAA and Air Traffic Controllers Union  agreed to the following changes in the aftermath of recent incidents involving sleeping air traffic controllers:

■ Controllers will now have a minimum of nine hours off between shifts. Currently they may have as few as eight.
■ Controllers will no longer be able to swap shifts unless they have a minimum of 9 hours off between the last shift they worked and the one they want to begin.
■ Controllers will no longer be able to switch to an unscheduled midnight shift following a day off.
■ FAA managers will schedule their own shifts in a way to ensure greater coverage in the early morning and late night hours.

Based on your experience, will these changes make a difference?

The planned schedule changes are inconsequential and do not address the problem. I would not change the schedules – the majority of the controllers seem to prefer their current schedules – I certainly did for the 16+ years I was in an active controller position or immediate supervisor position. FULL POST

SOUTHEAST TORNADOES & TEXAS FIRES – Powerful storms that have ripped across the Southeast killed more than 40 people over the past three days, according to the National Weather Service and reports from several states. Among the worst-hit places was Bertie County, North Carolina, a rural area in the northeast part of the state.

Faced with some of driest conditions Texas has seen in nearly a century, firefighters around the state are struggling to fight off what a forest service official on Sunday called the "perfect storm for wildfires." Authorities have responded to 7,807 fires across more than 1.5 million acres since this year's wildfire season began, Gov. Rick Perry wrote in a letter late Saturday to President Barack Obama requesting that the federal government declare Texas a disaster area. These have affected all but two of the state's 254 counties. FULL POST