A more careful reader might notice that I was specifically referring to privacy. If you wanted to have a conversation about something else, preferably involving citations not from U.S. political blogs, this is not the place for it.
Irrational and emotional European paranoia on privacy chills technological development. Look at all the silly cookie warning on the European web. Now imagine having to "warn" users before applying basic algorithms to data they willingly provide.
Let it be known that an entire continent's economy has been suffocated because of warning boxes on users' computer screens.