privacy_enjoyer

It hasn't failed. There's a lot more to the GDPR than the warnings you see on some websites - many of which likely don't constitute proper informed consent anyway and so would be unlawful.

The reason the GDPR and other privacy legislation was introduced is because of the widespread abuse of people's private data for commercial and political gain.

Attempting to address this isn't a waste of time or useless.

It makes no sense to blame the people trying to solve this problem, rather than those who created it in the first place.

If anything, the GDPR didn't go far enough. Though, that's often the case with legislation trying to stop corporate malfeasance.

In my opinion - and speaking more generally, not just regarding privacy - not enough large companies have been obliterated for their harmful behaviours. They just pay a fine, or bribe some officials, and move on.