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Speaking at a series of lectures organised by the BBC to debate public service broadcasting, Fry revealed he regularly breaches the iPlayer's Windows DRM copy protection and downloads shows on to his iPhone.

"There is this marvellous idea the iPlayer is secure," Fry said, according to a report on our sister site, The First Post<

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. "It's anything but secure. The BBC is throwing out really valuable content for free. It shows an incredible naivety about how the internet and digital devices work."

Fry suggested that programme makers were particularly unimpressed by the BBC's copy protection. "The BBC is making a lot of enemies giving away free programmes to an internet that everyone else is trying to monetise; at the moment, it's relying on the fact you have to be slightly dorky to record from the iPlayer; but, believe me, that will change.

"It will soon be the work of a moment for my mother to get an iPlayer programme off her computer and on to her iPod, iPhone, or whatever device she chooses."

The BBC has previously stated its desire to do away with DRM altogether. Last year the BBC's outgoing head of future media and technology said that "the long-term alternative solution is a world beyond DRM."

The BBC was unavailable for comment on Fry's outburst at the time of publication.