Without data being transferred you couldn't have:
1) Internet shopping (card details sent drom your PC to shop, and from shop to clearing company / bank)
2) debit cards (much the same situation)
3) most financial credit products (in order to decide on your suitability for credit, credit reference agencies keep a huge amount of data on all of us, some of which is made available to banks etc for credit scoring
4) Even data transferred between 2 depts of the same government or a company that are based on 2 different sites has to be transferred somehow (preferably not by mail.....)
5) Technically, you bank statement is valuable personal data. Would you rather your bank didn't send (or transfer) that data to you? Or would you rather they did it as securely as possible (which would count out the Royal Mail)
This data can also be accessed by the police (and presumably the government)
-----
Do you really think information was shared about us before the Internet? How do you think it was transferred? Mail or courier, presumably, and you don't exactly need a lot of expert knowledge to get into them!
I'd prefer it if my details weren't passed from company to company, site to site, but sometimes it is necessary.
VPNs still use SSL, a VPN is still a type of network.. altho it does make things a little different but not impossible
sure it's not 100%, but it's a hell of a lot better than the alternatives. To get into a decent VPN connection, you need quite a lot of expertise (you also need someone to specifically target the connection - you don't just find a VPN connection on the back of a lorry, like you can a CD / USB stick). To get into a government-lost CD all you need is a letter opener and a basic password cracker - something most people could probably download in 30 seconds flat.
Whether you agree with data being transferred or not is irrelevant - it happens, it is often necessary, and there isn't much any of us can do about it. However, when data is lost through negligence or incompetence, then those responsible should recieve criminal charges.