Yes, this is the point. Being a 30-year-old Chinese, I've already known under a dictatorship almost everything is controlled by gov. Want to give birth to a child? need a permit (or your kid won't have ID nor social security); want to start up your own NGO? need a extremely complex license which is designed to scare you away; want to publish a book? need a license and it will be censored or even be banned; want to form a street demonstration? almost impossible.
I think for a dictator, he needs a system to restrain the free flow of people and information (a good example, North Korea), to do this the gov uses its power/money/people to reach out as far as possible into every corner of social and personal lives. It wants to know everything and wants to control everything (whether it can do is another story).
I cannot say I have any evidences to prove a sophisticated operation like this can only be done by gov, but I believe only gov or gov sponsored organizations can do this.