Regulation also assumes that lawmakers understand how the internet operates. But many of the questions asked of the Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg at his most recent congressional hearing reflected a staggering display of ignorance about the businesses that have fueled America’s economic growth for over a decade.

Consumers, on the other hand, potentially can have more influence over these companies. When those companies violate the public’s trust, the news travels fast — often on the platforms themselves — and people stop visiting the sites, causing them to lose revenue. After a scary internet meme known as Momo spread, millions of parents unplugged their children from YouTube. Consumer uproar over a bug in FaceTime that allowed eavesdropping led to an emergency ad campaign by Apple.

Privacy advocates often point to European privacy rules as a model for the United States. Under those rules, the General Data Protection Regulation, companies that operate in Europe or handle European data are required to obtain consent before collecting data. They also must provide users with the “right to be forgotten” — the ability to delete their information upon request.

In theory this might sound beneficial. But some services we highly value, such as spam filters, require analyzing emails quickly — and without consent. Allowing everyone “the right to be forgotten” will enable people to erase information about bad actions that society might benefit from seeing.

And do we really want to emulate European rules if they undermine competitiveness? With the uncertainty over how to comply with those rules, entrepreneurs have looked to markets on other continents, strengthening big companies that can afford to pay big penalties for their privacy violations. The rules make it more costly to build a data network, which could explain why there are no European rivals to America and China’s big companies.

The lack of data networks will make it much more difficult for Europe to compete in building artificial intelligence applications that could allow us to live longer, more fulfilling lives, precisely because they collect and store huge amounts of data, which in turn makes algorithms more accurate. Engineers today are focusing on using artificial intelligence not just to improve shopping and social networks, but also to cure diseases, provide clean energy and better manage food supply and transportation systems. My own company, Collective[i], is a data network that uses machine learning to help companies manage revenue with the goals increasing economic prosperity and reducing layoffs created by uncertainty.

[Technology has made our lives easier. But it also means that your data is no longer your own. We’ll examine who is hoarding your information — and give you a guide for what you can do about it. Sign up for our limited-run newsletter.]