Why is public WiFi in Europe so painful?

Why is WiFi in Europe so awful? Every public network wants you to sign up via a painful signup process (enter a user name/pw/address/age/email/etc). In the US it's usually as simple as accept a EULA. Are there laws concerning this in Europe? Is it all about liability?<p>I am curious as to why as I'm used to the mostly frictionless US way and find it much nicer.