in yet another example of technology and its users involuntarily conspiring to save Big Content from themselves (see the VCR, television, and audio cassettes for previous examples), an independent survey is suggesting that personal video recorders (PVRs), like those from TiVo and ReplayTV, increase the amount of TV their users watch.

overall, PVR users are happier with their TV-viewing experience and more than half of them watch more TV (broadcast and premium) than they did before. because they can timeshift, a majority of users watch a greater variety of programming on more channels than they used to.

the numbers i'd personally like to tattoo on Jamie Kellner's forehead are, while PVR users skip commercials at the same rate regular TV viewers do, 92% of PVR users will stop to watch ad spots they find entertaining, and 69% will watch commercials if they're interested in the product. that's stunning -- PVRs help advertising reach the audience it's supposed to find: interested buyers. and all of this is happening in the context of more overall TV viewing. (via LawMeme)

in the same BusinessWeek special report on e-business with an interview with Larry Lessig, Big Content emissary Cary Sherman flogs the RIAA's party line.

there are the occasional funny moments. for example, Sherman manages to claim (without irony) that the RIAA are "big believers in the marketplace", while at the same time suggesting the RIAA supports Sen Fritz "Hollywood" Hollings' digital media copylock legislation because "the marketplace may not be working here." well, as long as it may not be working, might as well get some federal legislation rolling...

the tone turns from light entertainment to sheer terror, though, when we get to Big Content's vision of fair use in the digital world.

The alarmists refer to concerns about fair use on the theory that all future content will be locked up and will only be made available on a pay-per-use basis. There's simply no evidence to support that kind of fear.....CDs will be around for decades more, since there are hundreds of millions of CD players in the world. That ensures there will always be fair use.

in other words, no fair use rights for digital content -- just be happy that you can still rip your Beatles CDs on existing hardware (you "alarmist"). as for evidence that all future content will be locked up -- what use would we have for the DMCA, CBDTPA, and the BPDG otherwise?

a BusinessWeek special report on e-business has a great interview with Stanford Law professor (and prominent digital intellectual property thinker) Larry Lessig.

Lessig succinctly argues his main themes: that Big Content seeks to erode people's freedoms to aid their businesses; that government is actively aiding Big Content and abandoning its citizens; that we need to do something about it, before Big Content become the government-appointed gatekeepers to innovation.

We don't need a new vision [of copyright]. We just need to recognize what the traditional vision has been. The traditional vision protects copyright owners from unfair competition. It has never been a way to give copyright holders perfect control over how consumers use content.