There are all kinds of stories of the lunacy going on in the States, too. Anybody reading slashdot / digg/ reddit etc would get a completely distorted view of what America is like, just as you seem to have with the UK.

Yeah, hugely popular. Sign up and give it a go.

Works fine for me under wine. Auto update doesn't work, but it's 5 minutes tops to download and install a new version. Other than that, no problems.

I don't know who modded you "informative", but your comment is full of inaccuracies. 1) The population of England is around 50 million, not 80 million. 2) The USA has plenty of high density population centres, too. 3) Don't be so paranoid. MI5 and MI6 have neither the resources or inclination to analyse your traffic. Local council? Don't be stupid.