Almost all of the Internet players that provide "free" storage and/or email/photo services are actually performing information gathering for the state. To use

Almost all of the Internet players that provide "free" storage and/or email/photo services are actually performing information gathering for the state. To use any of these services, you have to provide personal information. So the public is providing two sets of information. One set identifies the user and the other set contains their day to day activities. It's actually quite creepy the way some of these players crosslink their services and share login credentials. I have this strong mental image of "analysts" combing through this information looking for "interesting" patterns. To say the public is woefully uninformed about the real purpose of this information storage/gathering is breathtaking.