Oh wow, I am in privacy nut heaven. Check out the following Firefox extensions for avoiding 'the man':

• Scroogle search plugin. Scroogle is a Google screen scraper without the cookies, javascript redirection, no search records.
• NoScript. I have been using this for a while. Given the recent developments in JavaScript attacks (see my summary as an example), you want to block Javascript on sites you don't trust.
• Cookiesafe. For those of you that want to relieve the tedium of cookie whitelists. Like Noscript, but for cookies.
• KeyScrambler. This looks promising but I have yet to test it. It encrypts keystrokes going to and from your keyboard driver to thwarte keyloggers. It won't work against Javascript or XUL keyloggers though.
• SafeCache and SafeHistory. These plugins segment your cache and history to prevent browser history attacks.
• Temporary Inbox. Disposable e-mail addresses for one-shot registrations integrated into your browser.
• Bug Me Not. No need to register for those sites that don't need it. There used to be a plugin, but drag this link I put together: "Bug Me Not" to your toolbar and click on it when a site asks you to register.
• Vidalia. This will set up The Onion Router (TOR) and Privoxy to allow near fully anonymised browsing. I find it slow and a bit of an overkill.
• Multiple Firefox profiles. Create a separate Firefox profile for those 'invasive' services like Google's GMail, Calendar, Groups etc. Profiles can be managed by starting firefox with the "-p" switch. Use the below script to run multiple instances simultaneously:

@echo off
set MOZ_NO_REMOTE=1
start "" "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -p
set MOZ_NO_REMOTE=0