On the other hand, I see a lot of HackerNewsers and European geeks utterly angry at laws that forbid (blanket) recording of public places and GDPR which controls what the videos can be used for.

Every EU topic here is filled with people wishing for its destruction and dismantling of such privacy protecting laws.

Europeans fear corporations more than government, and in the USA it's generally the opposite. The USA doesn't like when any entity gets too powerful.

Those are likely the same people who want to unconsensually force Flock and other mass surveillance on people. Most well socially adjusted people greatly appreciate those protections.