if it seems to you like the internet is turning into a virtual company town, with omnipresent surveillance, spyware and surrepitious data mining, there are a few interesting projects out there.

generally speaking, they protect privacy, such as invisible IRC where your IP address is not revealed; they prevent or undermine censorship, like Peekabooty, which allows users to get around firewalls that prevent them from accessing the internet; or they enable users to resort to steganographic methods such as camerashy software or other strongly encrypted programs that interface with computer networks without revealing your identity and activity. some might want to add encryption technology to AOL Instant Messenger, so that your conversations remain safe from eavesdropping; others might go through anonymizer when browsing the web, or through hushmail when sending or receiving sensitive information via email.

there is even a range of suites like this one or this one that combine several tools for guaranteeing privacy, freedom of access, and freedom of speech.

last but not least, the U.S. charged the International Broadcasting Bureau (formerly known as voice of america) with a federal initiative to bypass other nations' restrictive blocks in accessing the net. however, as recently transpired, their implementation of a porn filter backfired, since blocking words such as "ass" (inadvertently preventing access to usembassy.state.gov), "hot" (as in hotmail.com and hotels.com) and "pic" (as in epic.noaa.gov) is clearly not having the desired effect. see the report by the open net initiative.