The implicit suggestion that this is because of privacy laws is silliness. There are plenty of industries in which Germany is ascendent (automotive, biotech, chemicals) which have no more lax information security requirements than computing. I mean, wouldn't you call bullshit if I said, "Maybe if the US had stronger privacy laws Europe wouldn't be dominant in the chemicals industry..."
Have you ever read William Langewiesche's book on nuclear proliferation, _The Atomic Bazaar_? The fact that Europe has a need for workplace security does't mean that Europe actually has workplace security: Langewiesche alleges that lax security and deference to workers essentially allowed URENCO (the UK, Germany, and [mostly] Netherlands) to arm the A.Q. Khan network in Pakistan.
