You are also forgetting one of the biggest successes; they convinced most all of society to agree to not only ban data, but to see possession of that data as one of the worst wrongs a person can commit. The notion that changing the pattern of bits on your hard drive can be worse than killing someone has now been driven to the core of our society.

And as for the US, drug trafficking has worked great for the most part. For example the concept that intent to distribute can be determined simply by possessing more than some arbitrary amount, with the prosecutor not needing to show any other evidence, is a disastrous development. Civil forfeiture, where one's property is charged with a crime, is also another great development for them, though it is a hand they are beginning to overplay.

LGBT individuals should count themselves very lucky. Had they delayed their rights movement by a few decades, they may have been hunted down (imagine if the social hatred of homosexuals that was present in the early 20th century was combined with the modern day power to pry into people's lives).

You mean opt-out.

As an existing Virgin broadband customer, I think I was given the option to enable it or not. I don't know how it works for new customers.

I was an existing Virgin Fibre when these measures were implemented and I had to opt out on my Virgin account web page.