[than3]

When you have less than a handful of companies creating the products there is no effective competitive pressure.

They control future supply which raises or lowers the price at their whim. The feature-set needed to get money from spyware is not mutually exclusive. Its a value, no-cost added to improve profit.

That's all the business people see, and Accurint is more than happy to pay with those government funds to enable historic lookups of your behavior in your private home sans court.