It's not easy to know what the truth is sometimes. Or how it's communicated. In Tunisia the military is switching sides and winning the confidence of the people. The military switching sides is a sign of great distrust in the current regime and could very well make it fall. A problem with a military take-over is of course that a new military regime will take Ben Ali's place (see for instance Madagascar, Chile, Argentina, Mauretania).

I realise that I may sound slightly sarcastic about the parliament's efforts to be diplomatic when I'm picking out only the parts of Tunisian praise.

Actually the parliament has, at times, been very critical of the development of human rights in Tunisia. See for example the parliamentary debate from February 2010 where all political groups praise the Tunisian developments except Greens/EFA and GUE/NGL who say:

At my boyfriend's house we're both involved in pirate politics and have been following the Tunisian situation very closely. This means the information flow is high from every possible angle and when he's been following and updating me on the groundwork, I've been tracking the EU-Tunisia relations from 1995 forward.

Major protests broke out in Tunisia following the self-immolation of a student in late December. The demonstrators are protesting unemployment and government violence, and as opposed to a previous norm of protests from spontaneous worker unions the recent uprisal seem to engaged a much larger part of the population to participate.

The European Commission has opened a consultation on the Data Protection Directive from 1995 which has a submission deadline of January 15, not January 12 as I wrongly reported yesterday.

Noted earlier that the philanthropic organisation Telluriad Foundation from Colorado, USA (or actually Brazilian collecting society ECAD), has made trademark infringement claims against the Brazilian Olympic Games hosts for having designed a logo that is, apparently, in its symbolisation of friendly handshakes and camaraderie too similar to the distinctive traits of the foundation's own logo.

Not a lot of people think about it, but the evaluation of the present data protection directive consultation from the European Commission is by far one of the most important missions we've had in the past two years.

-- Experienced telecoms activist

Not all clouds are grey, and when the snow lies thick and white in the Swedish midwinter landscape the world looks surprisingly bright. This is my collection of 2010 copyleft highlights.

After a couple of years of financial and food crises, in 2010 the world is moving on to... Plant variation rights, geographical indications and denominations of origins!

Counting down the days for New Years I wish to present a summary, my summary, of what the Commission has been doing over the past year.

Best is first!

Joaquín Almunia