by SHANE SINNOTT

The most current word from our esteemed government here in Canada is that the dreaded Canadian DMCA—that piece of legislation that they have been threatening to introduce for months, intended to bring our copyright laws more in line with our patent-loving neighbours to the south—will be put on hold once again. Apparently, some more important things are coming into the mix lately, like, er, the budget and the election that might result.

Be careful though, dear reader, that you don’t forget about this: in some way, shape, or form, new copyright laws are coming, and to think it’s always going to be the way it is now—or better, how it was two years ago—is a fantasy. The shutting down of the massive music sharing site oink.me.uk a few months ago, plus the recent banning of demonoid.com (another big file-sharing website) for Canadian users (by the Canadian Recording Industry Association, no less) has been a painful reminder that the Internet can very much be controlled. One day, we’ll all be able to tell our grandkids how most media was free and unlimited from 2003 to 2008, and they’ll roll their eyes at us in disbelief, before turning back to their virtual-reality cyber-porn device with which they kill time. There is, by the way, of all things, a Facebook group that you can join to educate yourself about the impending tyranny: tinyurl.com/2r6z6q.

Okay, now we can move on to more important issues. Mariah Carey has a new album out, and tracks have leaked. And oh man, oh man, it’s called E=MC2! Mariah, apparently such a fan of the mass/energy equivalence formula that she named an album after it, has let the first single leak. It’s called “Touch my Body,” which you can get here: tinyurl.com/2suomh. Ever the poet, she expresses a desire to “rub my face all around your waist” in this song, so I guess she means business.

Fun cover this week: Talbot Tagora doing “Connection” by Elastica at tinyurl.com/2hazko, and it sounds fucking fuzzy.