Google has floating servers, located in international waters, not really subject to any specific jurisdiction.
Or you could just encrypt all of the internet communication. Tor is slowly getting there, but we'll need faster computers or more efficient encryption in order to make this a reality.
Good point. I forgot google did that. I think part of the reason for that is having server farms floating on a literal ocean of liquid coolant was an interesting experiment they wanted to carry out. Many of googles server farms inland are subsidized by taxpayers and subject to tax breaks. There's no reason for google to fund an international projects like floating server farms on their own when they can do it domestically and have taxpayers foot the bill.
VPN's and TOR encrypt communications. What isn't encrypted is the IP address packets are forwarded to. That could be a limiting factor. Also... I think everyone knows state suveillance is hard-wired into ISP's and sniffs all internet traffic with programs like carnivore and echelon long being in operation.
I'm not certain how secure TOR is. Given the crackdown on the original silk road, which law enforcement claimed they were able to track down due to a "configuration error". And given the 2017 shutdown of alpha bay, silk road 2.0 and all those other TOR based markets. It is possible TOR isn't as reliable or anonymous as it was once considered to be.