One reason was old-fashioned American mistrust of government we prefer not to have a government privacy czar telling us what is private and what is not. A privacy czar would be considered an invasion of privacy. And from our point of view, the Data Privacy Directive has other drawbacks. It was developed in and is aimed at a mainframe world, with centralized databases and a manageable number of information conduits. Now we live in a world of networks where the yearly growth rate alone of potential information channels is measured in the millions.
Information is everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
Ours is a practical and flexible system. It is, frankly, a work in progress amenable to augmentation and alteration in response to any privacy threats from the steady onslaught of technology. As long as business practices and technology continue to evolve, the work will never be finished. Such a disruption would be a disaster of historic proportions. It would threaten our ability to carry on trans-Atlantic trade at even current levels, let along expand it.