Taking advantage of industrial-age tax codes, these multinational giants are leveraging the digital realities of today's global economy to run rings around local tax collectors.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Today, when presidents decide to take a jog or go out for a bite to eat, it is done from within thick concentric rings of armed Secret Service agents and local police.

CNN: Barack Obama slept here

Normally a small town of around 1, 000 people, its population doubled or trebled during the filming of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, as cast and crew poured into local farmsteads and guesthouses.

BBC: A return to Middle-earth

On Monday evening, while discussing how to cover the arrival of ex-NBA star Dennis Rodman and describing his array of tattoos and nose rings, we did what wasn't possible in the past: We Googled him from a local restaurant.

NPR: Tweets, Pics Give Real-Time Peek Into North Korea