As you may know, I'm a sci-fi nerd, hence I've been pretty excited about the reimagined Battlestar Galactica series coming to a close. So, me and my fellow connoisseur of the awesome, Greg, put together a quick survey on Google Docs to get predictions about the end of the show. The internets filled it in.

The Battlestar nerdery was all in good fun, but more interestingly, I also asked a question about how people watch the show: via live broadcast, recorded or downloaded? Legally or illegally? Depending on your point of view, these results are either entirely obvious, or quite surprising. So far, 313 people filled in the survey, which was advertised only through blogs and Twitter for two days:

Given the circumstances, the people who answered this fit two descriptions. One, they are fan enough to actually fill out a survey about a show on TV. Two, they read blogs, talk on Twitter, hang out in forums, i.e. they know and use the web intimately. So, SciFi channel SyFy, NBC Universal, all big name media: do you see that big green chunk of people who download your shows illegally? These are merely potential customers that you haven't reached yet.

In case you missed it, digg has a user revolt on their hands. After a story containing a key to crack HD-DVD encryption was removed, angry users started reposting it more and more, to the point where it overwhelms all normal stories on the site.

Personally, I think this is fascinating to see in action and I've never seen anything quite like it, at least not on this scale. An interesting quote that was thrown around was that "You can't take something off the Internet. It's like taking pee out of a swimming pool."

Obviously digg has little legal choice in the matter, but I can't help but sympathise with the disgruntled mob. As someone who's moved to another continent, I experience every day the walls brought up by DRM, both online and offline.

For example, I can't play any Canadian DVDs on my Belgian laptop, and I can't lend my own DVDs to friends or colleagues. Similarly, my Belgian credit card only grants me access to the Belgian iTunes Music store, so I can't buy TV shows that are shown locally.

It's pretty obvious that DRM is a bad measure against piracy, but still a great way to squeeze money out of unsuspecting consumers and inconvenience them at the same time. So I'll just be sitting here, enjoying how this plays out, rooting for the right team :).