The root cause behind the proliferation of privacy breaches is that the legal framework against spying/hacking turns out to have a massive vulnerability. Devel

The root cause behind the proliferation of privacy breaches is that the legal framework against spying/hacking turns out to have a massive vulnerability. Developing & spreading spyware that collects people's personal data without permission is illegal (you don't even need to leak the collected data for it to be illegal), but wrap it in some flashy marketing, dozens of pages of unscrutable ToS and "privacy" policy, and suddenly not only your spyware operation became legal but you can even leak or sell the data in total impunity. This is valid in Europe as much as the US. Keep in mind that even before the GDPR, most countries had some sort of legislation around personal data processing, use and storage, but none of it was enforced. The GDPR is no better in terms of enforcement, which is why you see tons of (non-compliant) "consent" flows and spying continues as usual for the most part since businesses entirely based on non-consensual data processing are still alive and kicking.