Agree / Disagree. I also work directly with Feds, and have a strong level of involvement with website security (which is admittedly different than crypto). While I agree the gov't as a whole, if deciding to be all Stasi on us, would likely be stuttering fusterclucks of a miserable failures, like you said: a) there are groups that would not; b) automation tools would make the task manageable, and c) these tools can and probably are presently being used to give the Democrats a strong election advantage. Nothing else truly explains 2012 and the shock we all got (including the left, btw).
I think the connection you made is accurate. The one point i would add is that its probably not the govt directly providing this information for elections. The govt is probably paying for the people who are though. Its some kind of grant or contract.
There’s also the govt run media and complete failure of the GOP.
Here’s an example of whats possible now - http://www.geekosystem.com/facebook-connection-world-map/
The guy mapped out connections worldwide using only facebook connections. All of the borders are drawn using facebook connections.