&gt; <i>See, I don&#x27;t get this. Europe is acting as if it had a duty to protect its people from the bad companies that steal your privacy while you sleep, whereas in reality nothing happens if you don&#x27;t explicitly give consent first.</i><p>Well, that is one of the main jobs of a government in the first place. Companies will always try to exploit you as much as they&#x27;re allowed to, and governments have the responsibility to make sure they aren&#x27;t allowed to do that too much. European governments are doing their jobs.