[Freak_NL]

It's not as simple as that. In the EU there are lots of political factors (like the director of the Dutch intelligence service, to name just one) that are quite vocal about abolishing strong end-to-end encryption; just as there are political factors in the US that wish to grant citizens the freedom to use strong encryption unencumbered.

[dx034]

But apart from the UK, Intelligence services in European countries tend to have less influence and aren't as popular with the general public. Many people have bad experience with intelligence services (Germany in the 30s/40s, Eastern European countries until 1990) so that there's still a lot of mistrust.

That has changed a bit with recent terror attacks (fear of terror outweighs other fears) but in general, data protection is taken much more seriously in Europe than in other regions and that doesn't only include companies but also the state.

[sametmax]

Which is funny when you think they invented enigma in the first place.

[Freak_NL]

The Enigma machine was invented by the Germans, not the Dutch.

[sametmax]

Sorry, deutschemark being the german money before the euro, I still confuse them in my head.