> ...large-scale "privacy disaster" has already happened
    > (see also: 2016 elections).

    > What, instead, I think would have to happen (sad as
    > this consideration is) is that the privacy breaches
    > result in some other nefarious event that ties directly
    > back to them.

Yes, that's exactly it. By "privacy disaster" I meant to say an actual disaster where people get tangibly hurt and the root cause of it was something that clearly traces back to privacy. THAT kind of disaster hasn't yet happened.