I guess you missed the legal part. If I had recorded it off the TV it would be "fair use" as well. There was no crime and the producers and distributers profited from me when I purchashed the item. How is this a crime? your accusation is weak.
What legal part? That is your opinion. There has been a ruling on the VCR-TV issues for quite a while now, and since the RIAA gets a cut of Blank Tapes (bad idea IMHO) it was settled. Still, I believe that the justification for the ruling was a "time shift" not "fair use".