OVER THE EDGE
February 27 - March 12, 2008

JEREMY JOHNSON

S Tarr WRITER

it has been one of the major fallback ex-
cuses Jim Prentice has used during confronta-
tions with opposition to the Canadian DMCA.
He would say things like “businesses I spoke
to have told me that we should implement
WIPO treaties” (paraphrased) among other
things. Up until recently, it would have been
somewhat difficult (though we know that
some of the major Canadian labels have op-
posed an American style copyright law from
the beginning) to prove otherwise.

‘Now, a new coalition known as the Business
Coalition for Balanced Copyright has been
formed and become vocal on expanding fair
‘dealings as Well’as protecting innovation, not
DRM. It gets better, the coalition’s members
_are not consisting of little more than small

“Start-Ups hoping to just pull'a’ publicity stunt”

‘Their members’ list include the Canadian As-
sociation of Broadcasters (CAB), Canadian
“Association of Internet Providers, a division
,of CATAlliance (CAIP), Canadian Cable Sys-
‘tems Alliance (CCSA), Canadian Wireless and
<Telecommunications Association (CWTA),
-Computer and Communications Industry As-
sociation (CCIA), Retail Council of Canada
(RCC), Google, Third Brigade, Tucows, Ya-
‘hoo! Canada, Cogeco Cable, EastLink, MTS
Allstream, Rogers Communications Inc.,

Are We Going to Fall
Like the Romans Did?

5. 9S AEE SHE RG NIRS BRN cP ae ae Sen ata

PAT IIS ee MRE RPS aI

The opinions expressed in Over the Edghaine theseol hawattees’ alone and
do not necessarily reflect those of the editorial. staff or newspaper society.

SaskTel, and Telus.

It may seem surprising to some S that big
businesses are suddenly interested in consum-
er rights (for the pessimists at least) so it may -
be worth noting what is also init for them
specifically. Simply put, if American style
copyright laws are put in place, then sudden-
ly, royalty rates will skyrocket. Another big
point, if American style copyright laws are
put in place, then Internet Service Providers
would also face a hefty burden of complying
with takedown notices. This would require
going through data logs (and for an ISP, even
just dumping that into a text file and searching
through it is no easy feat given how much data
actually flows through their networks in the

. first place) which would.require hiring people.

to painstakingly go through them and figure
out where and when one or more files was

transferred. Now, multiply that by potentially _

hundreds of complaints and you got yourself
a massive new layer of business overhead that
simply didn’t exist before in Canada. Think
I’m just making’ this'up? Check out what ISPs,
namely Telus, had to say during the CRIA dis-
covery case on CIPPIC.ca and you'll find that
this was a major concern for them then as it
would likely be now. This is just what would
likely be one of their biggest concerns, just
think of all the grey area concerns that face
them including innovation stifling laws that
would see poten new technologies that

Feedback can be e-mailed to ove

for them.
T’ve said it before when ‘in finally get
down to it,: if ‘there i ic '@ government aiming

- to put in American style copyright (or simply

bowing to the. wishes. of the foreign record

down to a Canada vst the: ‘Government and for-
eign businesses debate. It. happened. with the
Liberals and it’s certamly happening with the
Conservative party as well.

So, it really comes to no surprise that ru-
mors surfaced saying that the industry minis-
ter is now delaying the Copyright reform bill
again. With the idea of a possible spring elec-
tion looming, the copyright bill’may not see
the light of day, Of coutse, if; through some
sort of miracle, the: government survives the
Crime Bill, the budget AND the bill that could

.alter, the. state of affairs. in.Afghanistan,.then.....
it seems likely the bill will come back next

month. Though, right now, the debate seems
retty unanimous at this point in time. The
onlypeopletryingto
get American style rat
copyright laws in |
are CRIA, ACTRA
and Access Copy-
right to my know-
ledge (maybe a few
other organizations
that are barely five.

ee members int if hao,

“Though, the copyright reform bill has an-
othier stumbling block: now; the Minister of
Canadiatr Heritage. Yup, sounds like there i is
some in-fighting as to how to: handle the re--
form bill;-Prentice says the debate over copy-
right is over after the Congultation in 2001 and
we. can debate ‘the. bill after its:set in sfone
and practically law while Canadian Heritage
is asking for debate after the first reading (a
point in the process which would allow for
changes to occur).

The way I see it, the best Prentice can hope
for at this point in time is.for the government
to fallthen. hecould slirug his shoulders and
say to the lobbyists, “well, I tried” and say to
the constituents, “the government fell, it’s out
of my hands, now stop calling.”

I’m currently hoping for another minority
government. because,.so. far, these kinds of
governments have saved us from disastrous
copyright laws that affect us more than you
might think in our daily lives.

HIAAKON SULLIVAN

Propuction/PHoTo CooRDINATOR

For nearly. 1400. years, the Roman-Empire existed and
throughout its whole lifetime it battled many struggles
to ensure its survival. During its last years, it obviously

lost some of these battles.resulting in.the.death blow-te-.

the ancient empire. What was it that ended this mighty
empire? Historians still debate the causes, but some’ of
the theories are matching up with what’s going’on in our
civilization today.

One theory that historians came up with is that the
Roman Empire fell because they ravaged their environ-
ment by deforestation and overgrazing. The Romans
needed room for cities and farmland and ‘wood for fuel
and war but ruining the forests caused excessive flooding
which in turn ruined crops and.spread disease.

In our civilization, we generally have a massive dis-
regard for our environment. Countries around the world
pump greenhouse gases into the air which acidifies our
water and hurts our air quality. This in tum will hurt our
personal health and food supply, but to what extent is still
unknown. This has a chance of resulting in the fall of
our society, but I personally think that this will only be a
strong contributor and not a cause.

Another theory for the fall of the Roman Empire is
that the Romans were far too dependent on raiding other
countries to support themselves. From culture to resour-
ces, they always needed more and more from others to
help.support themselves. When they ran-out of targets to

_ conquer, they found that they could produce little them- ’ «f
_ selves and:hyperinflation resulted making it hard for its

citizens to survive. Slavery was also‘a cheap source of

labor, taking up the employment opportunities for those |

who needed the money. °

In our society, we have become more and more depend-
ent on prodti¢ing itemis overseas and if that line ever gets
cut for whatever reason, we will see prices on a good
number of items increase to barely affordable levels re-
ducing the value of the work you do.

Speaking of work, I think that the real similarity be-
tween the fall of Rome and our society will the use of

“slaves” but in our case technology. With the rate of }

technological advancement being so quick, we can soon

expect machines to do just as much, or more, than the ;
average person can. With this efficient and cheap source +
of labor, people may soon find themselves losing their |
jobs to machines just like what happened to the citizens ;
of Rome. With the loss of jobs, who can pay for the goods |
and services they need to survive and who can collectthe |
taxes from them so sustain our governments? Technology }

is the greatest threat to our society just as the slaves were
in Rome.

Simply put, there are many ways that our society can
collapse, but we can look into the past and see some of |

the harsh possibilities that await us. Unfortunately, it is

too late to change in our society because doing so will |

only increase the speed of decline.

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