Gohan, this isn't responding with who you are running as -- it's listing the permissions on the file.

To find out what user the computer thinks you are operating as, use the command "id".

To make it more obvious as you're learning, here is a small exercise:

1. Start a new xterminal window from the one you have running by selecting "New" from its menus at the top of the screen
2. in that new window type "id" and hit return
3. Do #1 again
4. In this new xterm, type "sudo gainroot" followed by "id". The results should be different
5. Use the task switching of maemo to switch between these windows. Note that the you're now effectively logged in as multiple users.
6. Now that you've seen this, exit all xterms by typing "exit", and start again. Having multiple xterms logged in as different users can be handy, but when you're getting started it's just too confusing on a small screen device like the N900.
7. Start up the xterm again, fight the iplayer battle some more.

When you've won on the iplayer front, you'll also have won on the "learning the command line" front. :-)