OVER THE EDGE NEWSPAPER. JANUARY 10, 2007 \ OPINIONS 5 CODY WILLET COLUMNIST The idea‘ of allowing the Quebecois to call themselves and be recognized as a nation is reprehensible to some. Thus we have the uproar in- our parliament over Gilles Duceppe and the Bloc Que- becois tabling a motion that recognizes Quebec as a nation that is distinct from the rest of Canada. We should expect nothing less from Canada’s very own separatist party. However, the move by Stephen Harper to table the same bill, but with the important words: “Within a united Canada” has stoked the flames much higher. Not to be outdone, BC’s CODY WILLET COLUMNIST War: what is it good for? If you said absolutely nothing, that’s half the prob- lem right there, Right now around the’ globe there are both cool and hot con- flicts simmering and boiling over; many of which we hardly flinch at when our eyes flit through the headlines over cheerios and coffee in the morning, How many wars and insurgencies can you count off on the tips of your fingers? If you can name a few that's good, but can you say, what the crux of the conflict is? * We are lucky that as Canadians we live locally removed from the horrors 2607 To Be the Year DRM Dies? JEREMY JOHNSON COLUMNIST There's been some interesting hype while internet news reporters were dis- cussing the future of DRM (Digital But wait! There On the Digital Front Premier, sensing a bit of good PR in the winds of political anxiety, had decided to throw his two cents into the mix as well. Gordon Campbell says that if we recognize Quebec as a distinct na- tion within Canada, then we should recognize Canada’s aboriginals as such also, Now, I wont lie to you, Campbell and Harper are a couple of sly political operatives who rub me and most other young Canadians the wrong way most of the time. But in this instance, they are both right on the money for all the wrong reasons, Campbell wants to look good for the native bands he is work- ing on settling treaties with and this was a great opportunity to look like he is their bestest friend in the whole wide world. What better way to score a little good will at the bargaining table? The response from the band leaders? “Nice words but we'll be happy when your ac- tions match your rhetoric. Thanks for comin’ out. Harper? We'll I can only guess why the hell hed wanna piss off his western base of right-winger support. Oh I know,.; it might help his chances in Quebec. After all, those inroads he made with those ten seats he picked up in Quebec last of violent conflict and strife. We do not have to worry about falling mortars, sui- cide bombers, angry refugees, and gun- fire sprays as daily realities. Yes, Canada is physically removed, from domestic conflict, but even if we were to recall all of our soldiers around the world, we still wouldn't be afforded protection and peace. The reality is that conflict and the threat of potential conflict is pop- ping up all over the globe. From Iraq, to Lebanon, to Somalia, to India, to North Korea, to Iran, to Sudan, to Chad and even tiny Fiji, war has poisoned the air and people are fearful ‘for their fu- ture. How long will it be before a war- Rights Management). For those of you who don't know, DRM-is anti-copying measures set in place by major enter- tainment companies to (fail to) stop the copying of their products. According to some news soutces, businesses are start- ing to have second thoughts on the use of DRM in digital music. I sure hope so after the fallout of the Sony Rootkit fiasco where Sony sold customers CD's with illegal (under Canadian law) spy- ware technology encoded into them. While the Sony case has been a ma- jor factor, another interesting factor was thrown into the mix - the controversy over the Forrester Report on Apple's iTunes, According to the report, Apple's music store (which is currently being debated in the US on whether or not it constitutes an illegal monopoly) sales election have washed out. Yes, the pro- test vote in Canada’s belle province has cooled its heels and cooled to Harper's Republican Party philosophy: Then comes this Michael Ignatieff fellow who looks like he's cleaning up in Quebec and on his way to becoming quitethe challenger in the next election after he wins the Liberal leadership. “How did he do it?” a befuddled Stevie asks his mini-me Katl Roves. They tell him it’s because Ignatieff had the balls to“Stand Up for Quebec” and suggest that there might still be a shameful little situation where 25% of our population resides in a province that has not ratified our Canadian constitution. It's not because they're all assholes, as some ‘astute’ Can- adians might suggest. It's because they are a minority and a founding people of our beautiful country and want the recognition and respect they deserve as a distinct and important culture within our greater mosaic of cultures. This goes doubly for Canada's First Nations population. So here's the play for Harper: Head Ignatieff off at the pass. “Yes, if it looks good on Ignatieff, it'll look good on me,’ thinks Harper. Well, the consequences mongering despot connects these dots and proclaims a.world war? Some say‘it has already happened and our Western media has declined comment. Others sit and wait for regional conflicts to pop up elsewhere first. How long will it be until the entire Horn of Africa is embroiled in war? How long will it be before Kim Jong II sees his window for global attention flung open invitingly wide, How long until the gov- ernment of Nigeria loses all control of its oil fields to rebel militia groups? How long until Hugo Chavez succeeds in gal- vanizing his South American brethren to stand up in opposition to perceived dropped 65% on the second half of 2006. ~ This research infuriated Apple, so Apple did their own study and suggested that Apple's music is up by 75%. Now, I'm not exactly an expert when it comes to Apple's music store, but first of all, wouldn't you have to know how much of what music you are selling be- fore you can pay royalties to the major record labels (and trust me, they'll de- stroy entire businesses and chill innova- _ tion to get their royalties) in the’ first place? Plus, if music sales is so far up there in the first place, why am I more inclined to believe that users are loading music onto their iPod's from third party sources like a CD? I'm also thinking that this is factor- ing the raging success of AllofMP3.com where users get DRM-free music at a are that it pretty much shores up the Ig- natieff leadership bid, and now.Harper gets to face a Liberal leader with as much ‘Afghanistan baggage’ as he does. Funny thing is, Ignatieff supports the inter- vention for all the right reasons and all Harper has is his Bush-esque justi- fications. Harper better start watching Ignatieff a little more closely to pick up a few moves and phrases, cuz when it comes down to a war of words in the debates, Ignatieff will wipe the floor with Harper's stiff Neanderthal face. Anyways, back to the pressing issue. Why not Quebec as a ‘nation’ within Canada? The.definition of a ‘nation’ is “a place where people feel a natural con- nection with each other because they share a language, a religion, or some- thing else strong enough to bind them together and make them feel different from others.’ Aren't we all part of some nation or another? What about Chi- nese-, Indo-, German-, Polish-, Rus- sian-, or Lebanese-Canadians? They are all nations within a united Canada. That's what we've been from the start. A nation made of the aggregate of many nations, all bound together because we respect the fact that we all came from is one more The Rumbling Echo-isms to mutter obscenities over... American imperialism? How long until ‘Tran is backed into a corner so tightly that the Middle East situation explodes into a pan-Arabian war? \ The circumstances are farther gone than at anytime before. Could it start tomorrow? Next month? Has it already begun...quietly? Now, I know we're not all experts on the causes and interests at play with global conflicts, but you don't have to be a rocket scientist to recognize that some of our interventions, well-intentioned or otherwise, tend to be seen as con- descending at best and neo-colonial at worst. As long as we recognize that stick- much cheaper price as well as the rise of other DRM-free mitisic’stores; On’a side note, I think I should address what the_deal is with AllofMP3.com which seems to be a minefield of mis-informa- tion, The site is based in Russia. The site pays into a royalty collecting service in Russia known as ROMS. The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) apparently rejected royalties from ROMS. When AIlOfMP3.com became a huge success, the RIAA was furious and has made, several desper- ate attempts to stop people from using their service all around the world. To , this day, the RIAA has been unsuccess- ful at shutting it down mostly because 1. The Russian site is legal in Russia and 2. It's hard to impose US law in another country. somewhere else to live in a place where ‘Peace, Order and Good Government’ are the order of the day. Canadas a tol- erant, multicultural mosaic of peoples that are not afraid to roll up our sleeves to keep Canada the northern paradise it is. For those whining about another ‘Meech Lake’ on our hands should we follow this project of finally recogniz- ing our francophone and aboriginal brothers, look at who was guiding that process: Brian Mulroney. No wonder it failed and divided us, Maybe if we had someone brighter than a neo-con cor- porate board squatter handling things this important, it might have gone bet- ter. I say bring on the Harvard doctor who might have written a few books about nationalism and co-existing to handle the task. It might be hard. It might take a little more than your usual stump-speech dialogue... are we so pa- thetic we're not willing to put in a little hard work to reach out to our fellow countrymen to bring them back into Canada’s warm embrace? PS. Come lend your voice to the chor- us of the dissatisfied in the Wintergar- den on Thursdays at noon... The Rum- bling Echo starts there. ing our collective noses into the affairs of other sovereign nations runs the risk of open conflict for our efforts. Of course, I'm certainly not qualified to solve the world's ills by spouting a critique of wars today, but I can and do lend my voice to the chorus of the dissatisfied. So let's start somewhere ‘by talking about the issues we all face. Bring your opinions and perspectives (the more the better) to the Wintergarden Thursdays around noon-ish. That's where the Rumbling Echo starts.., Unfortunately, I cannot go in to why DRM is so bad because it would require an encyclopedia to fully describe the reasons. I will say, however, that you can get a good idea by reading Michael Geists "30 Days of DRM’ which is an excellent start. While all this is good news for con- sumers, its not time to break out the champagne yet. It is unlikely that the major record labels will trade in their DRM ways and fully embrace the non- DRM music yet, however, it seems possible that they'll be experimenting ‘with non-copy protected music this year. Nevertheless, the analysts seem rather positive about the possibilities. It's definitely a step up for the Big Four from the time when the very term MP3 was practically considered profanity to