For example, the New York State Department of Financial Services will allow life insurance companies to base premiums on information culled from social media.

"That Instagram pic showing you teasing a grizzly bear at Yellowstone with a martini in one hand, a bucket of cheese fries in the other, and a cigarette in your mouth, could cost you," the report said.

Also, businesses are using as system offered by a company called PatronScan that monitors accusations of "fighting, sexual assault, drugs, theft, and other bad behavior" to turn away customers. ...