Do we need opt-out by default privacy laws?

BrendaEM writes: In large, companies failed to self-regulate. They have not been respected the individual's right to privacy. In software and web interfaces, companies have buried their privacy setting so deep that they cannot be found in a reasonable amount of time, or that an unreasonable amount of steps are needed to attempt to retain their data. They have taken the rights of the individual's right to privacy away--by default.

Are laws needed that protect a person's privacy by default--unless specific steps are needed by the user/purchaser to relinquish it? Should the wording of the explanation should be so written that the contract is brief, it explains the forfeiture of the privacy, and where that data might be going? Should a company selling a product should state before purchase, which right need to be dismissed for it's use? Should a legal owner who purchased product expect it to not stop functioning--only because a newer user contract is not agreed to?