Automatically Querying Google

Google’s terms of service states:

5.3 You agree not to access (or attempt to access) any of the Services by any means other than through the interface that is provided by Google, unless you have been specifically allowed to do so in a separate agreement with Google. You specifically agree not to access (or attempt to access) any of the Services through any automated means (including use of scripts or web crawlers) and shall ensure that you comply with the instructions set out in any robots.txt file present on the Services.

If you have any experience with this aspect of Google’s TOS I’d be interested in hearing it, namely:

1. Have you ever built an application that performs automatic queries to Google outside the means provided by Google?

2. If you responded “yes” to #1, have you ever been contacted by Google regarding the matter, or has Google ever blocked you or your application?

3. Have you or do you know of anyone who has successfully reached an agreement allowing them to automatically query Google?

4. If you know Matt Cutts, could you tell him to answer this question–Is there any way for a company to enter into an agreement to automatically query Google, and if so, how?