JEREMY JOHNSON COLUMNIST In another edition of ‘On the Digital Front’ I wrote about some- one getting sued for performing the famous 80’s Electric Slide in a concert. In what appears to be an increasingly ridiculous landscape for copyright, a new story has re- cently emerged that tops the in- sanity of a camcorded dance move (well, in my opinion at least). According to an article on CBC, a British composer by the name of Mike Batt put a track on his album entitled ‘One Minute’s Silence’, The track is exactly what it implies, one minute of complete and total silence. Ef- fectively, it was a parody of John Cage’s “4 Minutes 33 Seconds” March 28, 2007 When Silence is Copyright Infringement which is complete and total dead silence for that long. Mike credit- ed John and said that the track was “just for a laugh” Another fact is that John Cage died in 1992. This credit turned out to be the mis- take Mike did because it caught the attention of John’s publishers who then sent a lawsuit claiming that the track Mike produced was copyright infringement. Mike’s mother joked, “Which part of the silence are they claim- ing you nicked?” I’m personally at a loss for words on this alone, but it hit me, I am also writing an online cereal novel entitled ‘Breathe’ (available for free for everyone to read). I have posted two chapters online and intend on working on it more. The storyline involves the idea that Earth has been so polluted, that it’s impos- sible to breathe it unassisted. The problem is, an organization pat- ented oxygen and has a monop- oly on air purification techniques. Anyone who purifies air without authorization are so afoul of the law, that it is encouraged that they be tracked down and killed. The whole idea that I started out with a year ago was intended to be way too extreme to really be real and more like a-critique to today’s copyright and patent. systems. After hearing about this story, I have to retract my general com- ments that the whole concept is completely ridiculous and would never happen. Honestly, the whole patent and copyright system is so broken (at least in the US) that people are al- lowed to sue for recorded people performing a dance move, have a name with a word close to a copyrighted work (Viacom vs. Google), innovate a universal gar- _age door opener, have the word ‘Pod’ in your invention, and now, making a dead silent track. Don’t get me started on the system of recording a live concert or parts of the human genome being pat- ented. I know what most of you are thinking by now, and yes, I'll agree, “That’s just messed up” Apparently, Cage’s producers are demanding royalties at this point for the track. So how did the lawsuit end? They resolved the dispute, but Batt ended up paying an undis- closed 6 figure amount (so yes, he essentially lost the court case) This was despite playing the two “tracks” together to show that the empty air was even different. Some wonder how you can ‘write’ nothing, then ‘claim copyright over it. Well, according to Digital Copyright Canada, trusties said, “We do feel that the concept of a silent piece — particularly as it was credited by Mr Batt as being co- swritten by ‘Cage’ — is a valuable artistic concept in which there is a copyright.” I wonder, will they go after everything that makes music? After all, silence is where every song starts off after all. Every song also has elements of silence (space between percussions, etc.) I think this whole thing is just ri- diculous. Cops WinosT CooumMsBrT Why should I care that right now there is very severe discus- sion going on at UNBC about budget shortfalls and faculty cuts? I mean I graduate this May and for anyone that has started a degree in a chosen discipline, you are guaranteed to be allowed to finish the degree before the powers that be axe the program. Really, other than some sense of nostalgia or hope that a new batch of minds will learn to love the same discipline that extracted its toll of our blood, sweat and/or tears, why should we as students care if our old programs are can- celled and its professors canned. I mean, they’ve got their PhD’s (I wouldn’t mind walking out into the workforce with one of those bad-boys), they should be able to- ‘tough it’ on their own. No, I’m not concerned that our school faces declining enrollment. The reality is this: There are less of us post-secondary aged kids coming out of the high school pipe each year, of course reflect- ing today’s demographic trends. There are more of those high school grads, foregoing the rigors of 1* year classes and going into the trades than ever before. There are 25 000 new post secondary education spaces opening up all over BC and eating away at large swaths of potential new recruits (Thanks UBCO and Thompson River, this is where I figurative- ly fart in your general direction *pitoo*). It was inevitable that UNBC’s enrollment would drop. What I am concerned about, and to be quite honest with you, pissed off about, is how the cur- rent administration running UNBC has so far forfeited the op- portunity to meaningfully engage in talks with UNBC’s stakehold- ers, that. is ALL faculty, students, support staff, and the community, about what to do about our budget shortfall. Instead what happened was a sleight of hand: consultants were hired, programs were ranked by number of majors each year, and the bottom 4 were suspended. Women’s Studies, Physics, Eco- nomics and Northern Studies will not be accepting applicants as of September. Before you all start drying your eyes with this news- paper, let me add that between these four programs there were a total of three majors graduated last year. I see the reasoning, I see the necessity, I even see the justi- fication. However, because there was little democracy involved in the decision making process, the entire action is tainted. UNBC was founded as a re- -search-intensive liberal arts centre for learning. As a utiiversity in the North and for the North, our mandate included a separate Inter- national Studies program, a North- ern Studies program, First Nations Studies, so on and so forth. What — I have trouble understanding is how a projected budget shortfall announced in late December 2006 could lead to a decision to radical- ly alter the structure UNBC was created from in about two months. Under our new President, who is among the highest paid university presidents in Canada according to Maclean’s Magazine 2006 univer- sity rankings issue, UNBC is sub- ject to a cutthroat decision-making style that has no place outside the private sector. You hear that Mr. Cozzetto? UNBC is not a busi- ness. UNBC is not for profit. The fact is, universities are supposed to be centers of excellence intent on cultivating a greater understand- ing of the world not only within its students, but also for society at large. Do we really want to in- grain the impression that even our universities are as cold, ruthless, uncaring and uncritical as the pri- vate sector business world? What happened to due process and con- sultation? . Now, I don’t know Don Cozzetto personally, but I’m sure he’s a real nice guy caught in a pickle of a situation. The fact is that donations, assets, tuition and government funding don’t add up to cover the costs of operat- ing UNBC plus the new Northern Sport Centre and the new Teach- ing and Learning Building. Well, aside from getting more donations (I don’t see a greater effort being undertaken to solicit), mortga- ging assets (no way), or raising tuition (thereby dropping enroll- ment further), the other option would be to go after the govern- ment. They were happy to pay the majority of construction costs for the new buildings in well-timed pre-election photo-op-friendly announcements. Operating costs, however, are UNBC’s respon- sibility. Whatever, we’ll see what kind of shape universities in BC are in academically and physic- ally when the droves of tradesmen come knocking amid the crum- bling of the construction market. If universities are allowed to twist in the wind while the government puts its efforts into training trades- men, so much the worst for us all. One day, when the housing boom busts and the breakneck pace of construction slows after the Olympics, these tradesmen will be lucky to get on with their local school district or city crew. In the meantime, neglected campuses looking to reeducate the unem- ployed will be forced to rebuild programs and. upgrade campuses that are today politically conven- ient to ignore. The bottom line is this: If UN- BC’s president, vice-presidents, deans and governors were to act- ively engage the people they are responsible for instead of relying on outside consultants (which cost money, duh), they might find that profs and students alike are up to the challenge of figuring out novel ways to address the shortfall. In fact, the International Studies pro- gram, after being targeted for cuts and threatened with submersion into the Political Science program is working on a proposal to create a ‘Global Studies’ program that would cross programs and bridge the sciences ‘with the arts. In a globalizing world, this approach has the potential to save money through coordination and thought- ful streamlining, while at the same time positioning UNBC as a lead- er in global studies. Then there’s the gratification produced from involving ‘the people’ instead of engaging in draconian hack and slash operations that create fear, anxiety and competition among programs. Who would you rather be remembered as, Mr. Cozzetto? The President who brought UNBC together to figure out how to build positives from our nega- tives, or the president who pitted program against program and suc- ceeded only in sowing the seeds of desperation all over our virgin campus?