It's definitely possible...and I would say probable. The idea that they need something like MaxMind's product is laughable, though...they have much better tool

It's definitely possible...and I would say probable. The idea that they need something like MaxMind's product is laughable, though...they have much better tools at their disposal. Google as a company may not engage in industrial espionage, but I believe individual employees at Google do abuse their data access occasionally. I would think that having the power and data access would have to tempt some employees to be evil. (I know of at least two lawsuits involving a Google employee allegedly using AdWords data in an inappropriate way, for example.) I would be curious what, if any, monitoring systems Google has in place to prevent abuse/espionage by employees. I have a friend that works for Google that has commented on my ad spend and keywords (and he is in systems, not AdWords.) It was innocuous enough, but it made me wonder about what safeguards they have in place. I'm not much of a tinfoil hat type, but the fact that Google seems bent on entering every information business (which is, to be sure, every business these days) make me nervous. The fact that they have fingers in so many pots makes it almost inevitable that they will eventually become too arrogant and abuse some of their power. There was a post in the last couple of days about possible 'downfall' scenarios for Google, and I think them becoming known as "Big Brother" is probably the most likely. Paranoia amongst searchers could be more potent poison for Google than a new search startup.