In England the need for data protection laws was partly driven by employers keeping blacklists of &quot;agitators&quot;.  This was mostly construction industry keeping a list of union members who were engaged in legal union activity, often around safety. (UK construction at the time was pretty risky, one of the most dangerous industries in the country.)<p>Those employees had no choice whether their names were added to this black list.  There was no appeal. No due process.<p>And when a company abuses it&#x27;s data gathering and mining powers it&#x27;s unhelpful to blame the user.