> something really bad needs to happen to move things in the right direction.

Something really bad already happened: genocide. What else needs to happen?

The Netherlands (among others) required everybody to register their basic info, including religion, with local authorities. This made it very simple for the Germans to know whom to deport.

Your data can be used for other things than originally intended. But people do not learn.

So you may be right. More really bad things need to happen.