Stephen Fry Stands Up For Pirates

Stephen Fry has admitted to using BitTorrent

Stephen Fry has admitted to using BitTorrent to illegally download TV programmes, including episodes of old pal Hugh Laurie’s House.

Speaking at the Camden Roadhouse on the fifth night of 2009’s Apple iTunes festival, Fry was defiantly off-message when it came to espousing his views on piracy. Although attacking what he called “industrial scale” downloading, Fry was vehement that targeting people who illegally download only a small amount of content “is the stupidest thing the record industry can do.”

He also admitted to occasionally  illegally downloading torrents himself, including episodes of 24 and the season finale of House.

The QI presenter and tech guru was anxious that his speech wasn’t misrepresented as being wholly pro-piracy, however. He said that he believed that most people feel guilty when they use piracy software to obtain free content, and later Tweeted: “Hope I’m not misunderstood. Such a pity if I get misrepresented as a ‘help yourself and be a pirate’ advocate …”