Stephen Fry has defended illegal downloading and admitted filesharing a television show starring his former co-star Hugh Laurie.
Stephen Fry described the music industry's approach as "stupid"
The actor, author and technology blogger criticised the music industry's strategy of prosecuting small-scale filesharers.
"Making example of ordinary people is the stupidest thing the record industry can do," he told a London audience.
Fry said he used BitTorrent - a way of filesharing - to watch Laurie's turn in medical drama House as well as 24.
However, downloading on an "industrial scale" was not defensible, he added.