An investigation by a leading Chinese newspaper, the Guangzhou Southern Metropolis Daily, found that just a little cash could buy incredible amounts of information about almost anyone. Friend or fiancé, business competitor or enemy … no questions asked.

Using just the personal ID number of a colleague, reporters bought detailed data about hotels stayed at, flights and trains taken, border entry and exit records, real estate transactions and bank records. All of them with dates, times and scans of documents (for an extra fee, the seller could provide the names of who the colleague stayed with at hotels and rented apartments).

All confirmed by the colleague. And all for the low price of 700 yuan, or about $140 Cdn.

Another service provided live tracking of a colleague using his mobile phone, sending pinpoint locations in real time. This too was surprisingly accurate.

There are countless ads for services like these online, and some seem more reliable than others. But the reporters at the Southern Metropolis Daily had no trouble getting solid, confirmed information.

Much of the data seems to come from companies like telecom providers and hotels. But some is likely only available from government sources, information on driving infractions and border crossings.

In all cases, it seems the data is routinely collected, sorted and cross-referenced — and almost certainly tracked by government officials.