I agree with everything you say, apart from the general assumption in #1.<p>The examples you provide for European laws being too restrictive are correct imo, and there are more examples of laws that were, in my mind, the poor execution of a good idea (take the EU privacy directive that forces the opt-in for cookie tracking. This has in its execution by Google etc. generally become more of an annoyance than a privacy feature).<p>However, I think the decisions the European Court of Justice makes on these issues could be a chance for Europe. The &#x27;right to be forgotten&#x27; and the recent safe harbor decision show--in my opinion--that the ECJ wants to establish a more privacy-focused jurisdiction in Europe. That could be a chance for, say a Google competitor that does not track you through AdWords but, instead, relies on a monthly subscription model (this might not be a very good idea, but you get my point). And when Angela Merkel says that &#x27;too much privacy is bad for business&#x27;, I disagree, because Europe cannot come to the table one decade late and copy what worked in the Bay Area.<p>If Europe establishes a reputation for a different sort of service that relies on strong encryption, user privacy and the absence of ad-support but rather subscription, I think the European startup world could thrive in serving a market that is currently emerging rather than one that has been there for the better part of a decade.