Government data mining projects

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/03/dni-report-gives-a-glimpse-of-govt-data-mining-projects.ars
& some recent historic perspective:
FBI’s CARNIVORE SYSTEM DISRUPTED ANTI-TERROR INVESTIGATION
Why didn’t they just buy the info from Google?

Tools

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_the_People’s_Republic_of_China#Search_engines
The big search engines filter for the party line.
Freedom of info and accuracy take a backseat to market share.
Updated: CNet post