That too, but my experience was that a huge part of the problem was sheer ignorance.

When informed about those plans, most people actually react with some disgust. But the European Commission was really trying to be low-key around this, and the media usually jump on loud scandals first. Too few journalists are willing to poke around in the huge undercurrent of not-very-public issues and fish for some deadly denizens there.

More publicity definitely helped the freedom's cause here.