as you may already know, canadian copyright reform is an issue that is very important to me. so much so that i wrote a letter that i sent to multiple members of parliament to voice my concerns. this was back in early december before i had created this blog, but a digital copy of my letter can be found over on matt’s. if you havn’t already, you can join the forty-thousand-strong fair copyright for canada facbook group to show your support. for an intro to this topic, and an explanation why a canadian version of the dmca would be very very bad, michael geist is the guy to ask.

last night i was at the fcfc toronto chapter’s meet & greet and had a really good time. i truly had no idea what to expect… i ended up meeting and talking with amazingly interesting people who all have different perspectives on the issue of canadian copyright and how the yet-to-be-tabled legislature will would affect them (*if* it is adopted). participants ranged from eff activists, console mod-chip developers, archivists, engineers, to lawyers and law students. i talked a lot with rob hyndman, a technology lawyer and active blogger. during our discussions (ranging from skydiggers to how my apartment doesnt have cable) i voiced the following (tho less developed at-the-time) idea:

one of the few things i recall from grade 10 civics is some of the founding ideas of democracy from ancient greece: they would hold a public vote on any decision to be made by the government. everyone who wanted to vote would assemble on a hillside where votes were counted and the decision made. the problem with this was… you can only fit so many people on any given hill, so with larger populations not everyone is represented. fast-forward to our current system: everyone whoever cares enough to vote, only get to choose the people who’s responsibility it is to make the decisions for us. i think the greek version is a lot more in-line with how i picture an ideal democracy. true representation. no hidden agendas or surprise courses of action by elected decision-makers. the *citizens* would be able to take part in the decisions that matter and affect *them*. i think we could easily make a big enough hill on the internet…

when i mentioned this to rob, he told me about will pate who is trying to create a tool for opening up government to the public by using the internet. unfortunately his project (an app called civicster) suffers from the same ailment as a lot of these kind (for-the-good-of-civilization kind) of endeavours… our civilization’s greatest downfall is the fact that it is founded on greed: nothing is worth doing - and nothing will get done - unless someone stands to make a profit money off it. (even not-for-profits need to get paid) and yes, there are exceptions, but a guy’s gotta eat and there is only so much time in a day…

shout-outs and thank-yous to those fine folks who made last night’s meeting possible.

more ideas spawned from the event coming soon…