First job out of college was programming for a company that provided this type of data to insurance companies. If you are worried about data collection now you've not been paying attention.

I am the IT guy at my company. I'm not one to just willy nilly block things (ie taking time to block things proactively vs making the next set of tools for my company which is a better use of my time), give people enough rope to hang themselves is what I have learned. That being said, someone hung themselves by using this a wee bit much (lack of discretion much?) and I was told to block it (facebook). No biggie, I don't use the site anyway, but have not heard a peep from the person who hung themselves with it.

Big Risk??? I am guessing if they are on Wall Street they have been labeled TBTF and there is NO risk. Hell even if they get a "Flash Crash" they just go back and say, oh sorry that didn't really happen! Just my 2 pieces of zinc clad with copper.

Now you say the ice sheets are receeding. Graph of Artic Sea Ice Extent from National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, CO actually shows about a 10% increase from last year. Granted its lower than the average from 1979 to 2000, but it is growing compared to last year.