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Here's a collection of Current News items about Pete Townshend from the internet. This collection should help readers to build an own point of view regarding this topic.

All articles from Pete Townshend's website: copyright by Pete Townshend. All other articles copyright by the mentioned authors and websites

News:

In the meantime Roger Daltrey, David Bowie, Brian May, Bono, Sir Elton John and a lot more expressed support for Pete Townshend. On 7th July Roger said in an interview: "What are we becoming? The fucking Taliban? Pete's an artist and may have been naive, but he did nothing wrong and told the truth from the start. But he was treated as though he was guilty of the worst crimes and crucified without a trial by people with no accountability. It's a fucking disgrace. Everything they did to him was appalling."

Diary Entry: Details (from Pete's website) 17.10.2003

In January this year I readily admitted that I had used a credit card to 'research' listings that included sites offering images of the brutal abuse of children.
I think this admission that has since opened up the very real possibility of distortion. I have read recently, even in my own chat-room pages, that there is a question as to why I might have been 'wallowing' in such images. Or why I 'accessed' an actual site containing such images. The latter term is one I've used myself here so I can't really complain.
But the facts are: I paid $5 to look at the Landslide listings. I had been tipped off about the listings portal by a friend in the USA who was also working to raise public awareness about such listings. I saw the listings and went no further. I did not take up a subscription to any of the sites listed, and I did not delve any further. But my name appeared in the credit card database with the rest of the subscribers.
The very first image I saw, referred to in my essay A DIFFERENT BOMB available on this site, was about the worst I ever saw - and that appeared on my screen one day without any warning, and no credit card was involved, no sexual search terms were used.
At the time of my $5 credit card transaction I was doing research. The campaign I proposed to begin early this year was going to be aimed entirely at the incredible avalanche of listings of sites advertising pornography that might involve children or minors. Many of these listings included brutal images (admittedly at very low resolution) but often blazers for the major credit card companies. I have since been informed that many of the most shocking of these listings lead to well known and well established high street Californian pornography suppliers.
I need to defend myself against the idea that I went looking for images on any pretext whatsoever. I was gathering facts about listings. It is also important to say that what I did was not illegal when I did it (the law in the UK was changed later) and as such I felt no need to 'hide' my name or my reputation by undertaking such research.

Diary Entry: Silence Day (from Pete's website) 10.07.2003

For the followers of the Indian Master Meher Baba today is an important day - it is the anniversary of the beginning in 1925 of the Avatar's life of complete silence. Silence is what I would like for a while - but it seems impossible.
I don't want to pick a fight with any British newspaper, but some of them are starting to make things up. This year has been a tough one for me, but contrary to what one British tabloid wrote yesterday, I am not depressed, my neighbours are not abusing me - far from it, they go out of their way to show me warmth and understanding - and I have not received death threats. I have a driver who acts as a kind of bodyguard and I have a night security man - but I always have. No change there.
I walk freely in my town, I eat in local restaurants and everyone is very good to me. I take what happened to me very seriously indeed, and I hate the idea that anyone might believe my intentions were criminal, but I do believe great good has come out of it all.
One message I want to send. I know I am not above the law, but the law on the access of indecent images on the internet was changed in this country AFTER I did my research. While doing research I knew the law. I was not breaking it. I'm not stating this to make an excuse. But surely anyone can see if that is a fact, and it is, why would I be ashamed of the subsequent due process of law acting against me?
But I am deeply sorry for the trouble and pain I've caused: even the investigating officer who first found my name on a porn site database was a Who fan, and was saddened.
But I am not sad. I am out of the war against child-porn, but the war continues and that is what matters.
I'm happy, strong, sober, humbled and for the rest of the day I'll try to stay silent.

Pete talks to Billboard.com (from www.billboard.com) 01.07.2003

Edited By Jonathan Cohen. July 01, 2003, taken from www.billboard.com
Pete Townshend Speaks Out
> The Who's Pete Townshend says his life is getting back to normal after a traumatic six months. Townshend was accused of using his credit card to access a Web site containing child pornography (true, he says, but for research on an Internet campaign against child porn and for his autobiography, which details sex abuse perpetrated on him as a child) and downloading such material (untrue, and declared such by British police).
"I know I'm innocent," Townshend tells Billboard.com, "and apart from the first day when I heard the news when I was quite shaky and made quite a shaky statement I think, I've been absolutely certain that it was not about me." After accepting a caution from police, Townshend was shocked to be placed on the U.K. sex-offenders' list, albeit for a limited period and at very low status.
Due to recent events, Townshend's name is now known to a wider section of the general public than even the millions of Who fans, but he feels to an extent insulated from that scrutiny. "The people that I really care about are the people who have reached out to me in these troubles, and those are friends, fans, family and strangers who feel they know me through my work," he says.
He emphasizes that he is not smug about what has occurred. "I have been rapped on the knuckles and I don't want to appear like I don't take this thing seriously," he says. "There is a measure of the kind of rock'n'roll arrogance that I still carry in my dotage that made me think I'd have no trouble with it. I really thought of myself as a professional researcher who worked to help victims, not a guitar-smashing rock star. But the old rock star arrogance carried me into very dangerous water."
However, there's no disguising the sadness that Townshend now feels too awkward about the issue of child abuse to do anything other than continue raising funds for its treatment. "I should say no more really because I think what's actually happened here is that I have been silenced," he says. "On this issue, the issue that I was so passionate about, which was the subversion of the Internet, here I am: I can't really say a thing."
Townshend has been working on his autobiography, but the project has stalled for unrelated reasons. "I'm about a third of the way through," he offers. "I was loving it and I got to the part where I leave art school and then off I go with my guitar and I join the Who, and I started to get incredibly depressed. I started to think, 'Oh f*ck, I've got to sit here for two years writing about the Who'. So I couldn't do it. And then circumstances recently made me feel that people really need to know who I actually am, and the only way that they'll have a chance of understanding that is if I dispassionately write my life story. So I'm thinking about getting back to what I call the morning program: sitting down with a piece of paper and picking it up."
Writing about the Who may not be something Townshend is keen on, but there is the probability of one last new studio Who album, rehearsals for which had started before Who bassist John Entwistle's sudden death in June 2002. The impetus for completing the album is coming from vocalist Roger Daltrey.
"He seems to be determined to get me back into a studio and to push me to making what he would call a Who album with him," says Townshend, "and I'm in no mood really to turn away from his friendship. He's been such a fantastic support to me in my recent troubles. So we'll probably go into the studio later this year and try and [get] some material out."

Diary Entry: Shut up Pete! (from Pete's website) 23.06.2003

I know a lot of people must be wondering why I have not made any kind of statement since the resolution of my case with the police. I feel very good, supported by so much love from all around me. I am free to get out and about in my home town and most people greet me warmly. In any case, in the background I have a very cool and experienced bodyguard. I know now I can continue to work in my studio on music, and I am writing all the time. I can also quietly continue to do my work funding treatment for the surviving victims of childhood sexual abuse and other worthy causes.
I have amassed a huge amount of information about the issue of child-abuse and the way damage has recently been spreading via the internet. This research has been gathered over thirty years. Obviously in my case, forewarned and forearmed, I was concerned for a number of years in anticipation of awful problems the 'miracle' of the internet might pose when it finally reached the billions of homes it touches today. I also still have a buzzing head full of opinions, anger, frustration and energy I want to bring to bear on the authorities and treatment charities who I once thought needed my ideas.
Without my help, work is being done today by good people who are fighting hard to combat both the spread of sewage on the internet and the terrible psychological effect that could have on the minds of the children of the future. Every time it occurs to me to say something about what is going on I remember what happened to me: I was arrested, suspected of wallowing in the very shit that most upset me. It sends a clear and loud message.
What is clear is that I must learn to keep silent and focus my energies elsewhere.

Email from Pete to the Rolling Stone (from Pete's website) 20.05.2003

I intend to work my way back to normality. As a result of all this shit, I've decided to greatly formalize the structure of my charity (Double-O) and the way I work with "survivors" -- so that in future my work is more well-known to everyone. I've kept my profile low in this area out of modesty I suppose, and it has worked against me. I am going to complete my autobiography, Pete Townshend (who he?). I put it down and did not plan to finish it until much later. But now I am going to push ahead until it is done. People need to read about my entire life to get a real picture of who I am. I hope to finish it by the end of the year. So it may come out next year sometime. I am also going to get up and play just as soon as I can.
Finally, I'm going out onto the street to meet people, to smile and shake hands with everyone who has been supportive of me in my hometown. But also to give those people who are "undecided" a chance to look me in the eye and make their own decision.
Going on TV won't help me. I'm too wounded, too crazy, too happy and grateful, too resentful and too busy.
Who fans? I hope that life will go on as usual. Roger has been a rock.

Statement from Pete Townshend's website 7 May 2003

Pete not to be charged. Receives CAUTION

Pete Townshend Press Statement

After months of investigation officers from Scotland Yard's Child Protection group have confirmed that they have not found any downloaded child abuse images on rock guitarist Pete Townshend's computers. They added that Pete co-operated fully with the investigation and that the decision to caution was made in accordance with the MPS Case Disposal Policy for this investigation.
Pete stated "From the very beginning, I acknowledged that I did access this site and that I had given the police full access to all of my computers". He added "As I made clear at the outset, I accessed the site because of my concerns at the shocking material readily available on the Internet to children as well as adults, and as part of my research toward the campaign I had been putting together since 1995 to counter damage done by all kinds of pornography on the internet, but especially any involving child abuse".
The Police work closely with the Internet industry through the Internet Watch Foundation to monitor paedophile activity and any member of the public accidentally discovering such images should notify the IWF through their website.
Ironically Pete later contacted the Internet Watch Foundation on the subject of the offensive site. He pointed out that "The police have unconditionally accepted that these were my motives in looking at this site and that there was no other nefarious purpose, and as a result they have decided not to charge me. I accept that I was wrong to access this site, and that by doing so, I broke the law, and I have accepted the caution that the police have given me."

Statement from Pete Townshend's website 06-March-2003

You may be wondering why you haven't heard from me for the past few weeks since I was questioned by the Police. The procedure in England is that, after the initial meeting with the Police, they then have to weigh up their evidence and decide whether or not to bring any charges and, during this period, which can take a long time, I am advised by my lawyers that I must not make any public comment on the matter itself.
The statement I put out the weekend when this story broke is on the website and you can see what I said then. Nothing has changed. I hope that the Police will make their decision very soon, so that after that I can communicate with you again more fully.

Pete March 6 2003

Statement from Pete Townshend's website regarding the IWF 31-Jan-2003

Those of you that have been following the current case involving Pete will be aware he had stated that he had been in contact with the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) regarding his concerns over child pornography on the Internet. At the time the story first broke the IWF denied that they had in fact heard from Pete. They have now admitted that they did in fact have communication with Pete on a number of occasions.
This is the remit of the IWF (taken from their website www.iwf.org.uk ):
'The Internet Watch Foundation works in partnership with ISPs, Telcos, Mobile Operators, Software Providers, Police and Government, to minimise the availability of illegal Internet content particularly child abuse images. Our Internet Hotline can deal with reports of potentially illegal Internet content, such as websites, newsgroups and online groups that:

  • Contain images of child abuse, anywhere in the world.
  • Contain adult material that potentially breaches the Obscene Publications Act in the UK.
  • Contain criminally racist material in the UK.'

As you can see the IWF was the correct body for Pete to approach but since some of the media have reported the fact that the IWF denied receiving any communication from him we thought it was important that this updated information was published.
In response to this information Pete has said :
"You may recall that among the media frenzy of a couple of weeks ago, representatives of the Internet Watch Foundation told the press and the news stations that they had never heard from me. I, of course, know that I did communicate with them several times last year and they have now supplied to us copies of my e-mails to them, one in August and the rest in November. My lawyers have written to the Founder of the IWF, Mark Stephens, who was adamant that they had never heard from me, asking for an explanation."

A Different Bomb - revisited

From Pete Townshend's website 08-Oct-2002

This week I spoke to someone at Scotland Yard who told me that User Group areas run by companies like Google and Yahoo have literally billions of entries; millions of new entries every day on the sex-related Groups. There is no way they could ever be moderated or controlled.
Later, I will be talking to someone at a large children's charity here in the UK about creating some safe User Group forum for the rehabilitation of those who, addicted to internet porn, begin to be enticed into unacceptable stuff. I know that 'Just Say No' never worked with heroin, I didn't expect it to. But internet pornography depends on addiction for its massive profits.
The article below was first posted early this year. I came here today to take it down at last, but I just heard that another young woman who Double-O had put into treatment for depression and anxiety related to sexual abuse at the age of 8, had started drinking again. Sometimes this all feels so bloody futile. But I am determined to do my bit. I made a lot of money out of that poor little sap in Tommy. Now I understand how easily he could be recreated as a real child in our present society. I feel driven to try to change things.

A Different Bomb - revisited

From Pete Townshend's website 08-Aug-2002

"I read this week in The British Daily Mail that the FBI have sent to the UK police the names and addresses of 7,000 UK citizens who provided credit card information to a U.S. sex site which - they say - portrayed illegal, underage subjects. I'm not sure about the differences between UK and US law on internet porn, but I feel that I should repost my article from January this year written when a friend of mine who had suffered childhood sexual abuse committed suicide. I withdrew it when my site closed in the Spring and decided not to repost it when we reopened for The Who tour.
I am preparing another piece about my 'Future Fear' (as contained in the darker side of the Lifehouse story) that the internet absolutely MUST be restrained by those who provide access to it long before more complex forms of sexual entertainments start to be offered via Broadband and 'Virtual Reality' systems. Imagine a world where young women, young men and children from 'Third World' countries are used as characters in sexually enticing internet plays of some kind. These will be aimed at those sex-addicts with money in the 'First World', the profit collected by credit card of course. At the moment, that is what is happening on the internet alongside more 'normal' pornography sites. There is no point at all, in my opinion, locking up internet porn addicts. Children will continue to get hurt.
It is what we call the 'E-Com' route from 'First World' to 'Third World' that needs to be interrupted. If people wish to distribute unacceptable material freely via the internet we cannot stop them. The very nature of the internet is to allow free, borderless exchange of uncensored information, opinion and media. But the very nature of 'E-Com' is to collect money via credit card. That is expressly a 'First World' business run predominantly by Western banks and with profits commissioned by Western Internet Service Providers. There is no reason I can see that this should be allowed to go on where sex-sites are operating outside the laws and accepted moral criteria of the West.
Am I wrong?"

Statement by Pete as printed by the Observer (13.01.03): I am not a paedophile. I have never entered chat rooms on the internet to converse with children. I have, to the contrary, been shocked, angry and vocal (especially on my website) about the explosion of advertised paedophilic images on the internet. I have been writing my childhood autobiography for the past seven years. I believe I was sexually abused between the age of five and six and a half when in the care of my maternal grandmother who was mentally ill at the time. I cannot remember clearly what happened, but my creative work tends to throw up nasty shadows - particularly in Tommy. Some of the things I have seen on the net have informed my book which I hope will be published later this year, and which will make clear that if I have any compulsions in this area, they are to face what is happening to young children in the world today and to try to deal openly with my anger and vengeance towards the mentally ill people who find paedophilic pornography attractive. I predicted many years ago that what has become the internet would be used to subvert, pervert and destroy the lives of decent people. I have felt for a long time that it is part of my duty, knowing what I know, to act as a vigilante to help support organisations like the Internet Watch Foundation, the NSPCC and Scotland Yard to build up a powerful, well-informed voice to speak loudly about the millions being made by US banks and credit card companies for the pornography industry. That industry deliberately blurs what is legal and what is illegal, and different countries have different laws and moral values about this. I do not. I do not want child pornography to be available on the internet anywhere at any time. On one occasion I used a credit card to enter a site advertising child porn. I did this purely to see what was there. I spoke informally to a friend who was a lawyer and reported what I'd seen. I have enclosed my website article about my friend Jenny who commit [sic] suicide because of sexual abuse she suffered as [a] child. I hope you will be able to see I am sincerely disturbed by the sexual abuse of children, and I am very active trying to help individuals who have suffered, and to prevent further abuse. In earlier remarks, Townshend said: 'To fight against paedophilia, you have to know what's out there. I have done a lot of work on paedophilia and my website has highlighted it. 'I have looked into the abuse that children have suffered in Chechnya and Kosovo and the portrayal of these children on the internet and it appals me. I was worried this might happen and I think this could be the most damaging thing to my career.'

He said he was interested in adult porn, adding: 'I've always been into pornography and I have used it all my life. I'm going to talk to my lawyers to see what happens next."

12.03.2003. Entertainment E! Online: Pete Townshend Off the Hook?

Pete Townshend might be able to sing "I'm Free" again--and mean it.
The Who mastermind could be close to cutting a deal that could make his child-porn case disappear. British authorities are considering giving him a caution for illegally downloading kiddie porn, according to London's Daily Mail newspaper.
Such a decision would mean the rock icon would avoid a potentially damaging trial, but Townshend would have to admit guilt, which would then go on his record.
Townshend, 57, was busted on January 13 for allegedly making and possessing indecent images of children with incitement to distribute such images. He allegedly used his credit card to gain entry to an illegal child-pornography Website.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer was jailed briefly before being released, but, per British law, he wasn't charged with any crime, pending an investigation.
Townshend--who proclaimed his innocence in a statement on his Website the weekend detectives searched his house, saying the subject of child porn was strictly "research" for his upcoming autobiography--signaled that he may be ready to accept such a deal.
"I hope that the police will make their decision very soon, so that after that I can communicate with you again more fully," Townshend wrote in a March 6 post.
No immediate comment from British prosecutors on the purported deal.
Townshend's arrest was part of a nationwide crackdown on pedophiles code-named Operation Ore, which, with the aid of information supplied by U.S. authorities, nabbed a reported 1,300 Brits, including several politicians, judges, doctors and police officers who allegedly violated the U.K.'s Protection of Children Act by viewing kiddie porn on the Internet.
According to legal observers, if Townshend only accessed the site once and no banned images turn up on his confiscated hard drives, then it's assumed he'll be given a warning.
The rocker said he only looked at the illegal sites on one occasion and immediately notified authorities about the ease of which such material was accessible online. Townshend has said he suffered sexual abuse as a child at the hands of his maternal grandmother (an experience he says informed the Who's classic 1969 rock opera Tommy) and went online to help trigger his memory for his book.
Shortly after his arrest, model-actress Jerry Hall said the rocker once offered her advice on how to protect her kids from the dangers of Internet porn and said he was an "avid supporter" of children's welfare charities.
If his case ends up in court, Townshend could expect a media circus to reign over him--not to mention a possible five years in prison and substantial fines should he be convicted.

31.01.2003. Yahoo Launch news: Pete Townshend may have some proof in his battle to clear his name against child-pornography allegations.

Britain's Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), which works "to minimize the availability of illegal Internet content, particularly child abuse images," has announced that Townshend contacted the organization last year regarding some of the websites he had found while allegedly doing research into pedophilia. The IWF denied any such communication when Townshend was arrested earlier this month, but has now been able to produce some emails from last summer and autumn that seemingly back up the Who leader's claims.
Townshend issued this statement on his website (petetownshend.com): "You may recall that among the media frenzy of a couple of weeks ago, representatives of the Internet Watch Foundation told the press and the news stations that they had never heard from me. I, of course, know that I did communicate with them several times last year, and they have now supplied to us copies of my emails to them, one in August and the rest in November. My lawyers have written to the founder of the IWF, Mark Stephens, who was adamant that they had never heard from me, asking for an explanation."
For it's part, the IWF says it had no choice but to deny any prior contact with Townshend: "Because of the provisions of the Data Protection Act, we are unable to comment or disclose information about the personal details of individuals who make reports to us unless they give their permission."
Townshend was arrested and released on bail on January 13 after British police searched his house as part of Operation Ore, an ongoing pedophilia investigation. He has so far not been charged with any crime. He was taken in as part of an ongoing investigation into Internet child pornography around the world after his name and credit-card information was found at a pedophile website. Townshend has admitted visiting a handful of child-pornography sites and using his credit card to enter one, although he claims he was doing research for his upcoming autobiography, and that the book will include a claim of sexual abuse between the ages of five and six-and-a-half years old while he lived with his maternal grandmother (the alleged abuse came from a male friend of his grandmother's).
In an interview with the British tabloid The Sun published before he was taken into custody, Townshend said, "I am angry about child porn on the Internet, and deeply wounded at the inference that I might be a pedophile. I have looked at child porn sites maybe three or four times in all, the front pages and previews. But I have only entered once using a credit card and I have never downloaded. With hindsight it was very foolish, but I felt so angered about what was going on, it blurred my judgment...I have never purchased any forms of child pornography or wished to own any...I was stupid to try to deal with my anger about child porn on the Internet alone. We must try to stop it but if we can't do that we should invest our energy in helping victims of abuse...it is important that the police are able to convince themselves that--if I did anything illegal--I did it purely for research. I am not a pedophile...I sincerely believed that the police would know my history as someone who works tirelessly to help the abused, and that since 1978 I have run a charity which has contributed millions to organizations working to prevent violence and abuse."
Bruce Simon, New York

16.01.2003. Yahoo Launch news: Queen Guitarist Standing With Pete Townshend, Unhappy With Media Coverage

Add Brian May to the growing list of people willing to give Pete Townshend the benefit of the doubt, even as the media does not.
Earlier this week, the Queen guitarist issued a statement under the heading "For God's sake, you idiots, leave Pete Townshend alone" that read:
"This is really in danger of getting deeply out of hand--remember McCarthyism in the U.S.A.?" May wrote. "Well, maybe we're too young, but if you read Orwell's 1984, it'll do the trick. The Thought Police seem to have materialized again in 2003. Surely the police conducting this investigation into pedophilia must realize that loads of people must go into areas of the Internet purely to see what is there? And are you going to tell me journalists don't do this in order to be informed enough to write their stories? Oh, I guess journalists will turn out to be exempt from this kind of investigation into THEIR private lives. But of course it is these very harpies who as usual can't wait to smear a great artist like Pete Townshend. It made me feel sick to see newsreel footage of these parasites camped outside Pete's house. Grow up guys. And own up.
"Pete Townshend's integrity is self-evident. He is as appalled by pedophilia as the rest of us.
"Show some respect to a man who has done so much to improve and inform our view of the world."
After thinking for a few days about what he wrote, May decided to amend his thoughts. He now writes: "It has deeply saddened me to see a man of such honesty and integrity so appallingly misunderstood and smeared. I believe Pete Townshend will be proved innocent of all bad intentions, but, whether he is or not, he has been carelessly thrust into a hostile glare by elements of the tabloid press in a way which risks permanently damaging both his reputation and his huge contributions to helping the victims of abuse. I say again, Pete Townshend's integrity is self-evident. He is as appalled by pedophilia as the rest of us. I would like to see some respect for a man who has done so much to improve and inform our view of the world."
Queen will be inducted into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame on June 12 at the organization's annual ceremony in New York City. The group will also roll out several new editions of its successful We Will Rock You stage musical across Europe and in Australia this year, with a Broadway opening likely for 2004.
> Townshend was arrested Monday (January 13) at his London home as part of an ongoing investigation into pedophilia and Internet child pornography in the U.K. He has admitted to visiting three or four such websites, and using his credit card to access the content of one, although he denies downloading anything. The Who leader hasn't been formally charged with a crime and was released on bail, but he might be required to return for further questioning later this month.
(Yahoo launch news, by Bruce Simon, New York)

15.01.2003. Yahoo Launch news: Roger Daltrey Says Pete Townshend Not A Pedophile

Roger Daltrey is standing by his old friend Pete Townshend in the wake of the guitarist's arrest on child pornography charges Monday (January 13). Daltrey, the Who vocalist, said, "I believe Pete is innocent" in the ongoing British pedophilia investigation dubbed Operation Ore. Townshend has admitted using his credit card to access a child pornography site, in addition to viewing the front pages of another three or four websites, but claims he was doing research into child porn and sexual abuse, and that he himself was abused as a young child while living with his grandmother.
Before Townshend's arrest, Daltrey told U.K. tabloid The Sun that he and the guitarist had spoken about child porn as far back as two years ago, and that "Pete was very angry about how easy it was to get hold of child pornography on the Internet. I believe his innocence will be proven. My gut instinct is that he is not a pedophile and I know him better than most."
Recalling another British musician caught up in the Internet child-pornography swirl, Daltrey added, "If he was a Gary Glitter, I'd tell you and I'd say he deserves everything he gets. Pete has perhaps been a little naive the way he has gone about it, but I believe his intentions are good."
Daltrey told the paper that Townshend's ire was raised after he unwittingly came upon a child porn site while surfing the Internet with his son, who was 10 years old at the time. "Pete was disgusted," Daltrey said. "The ad was made to look like a videogame, attractive to kids. It made him angry that people were making money out of it and he's discussed this a lot with me."
(Yahoo launch news, by Bruce Simon, New York)

14.01.2003. Sky news: Who Star Relesed Without Charge

Rock legend Pete Townshend has been released without charge following his arrest on suspicion of child pornography offences. The Who star was bailed after he was arrested for questioning at a London police station.Earlier, police searched his home after he admitted paying to view child pornography on the internet. Townshend's solicitor, John Cohen, gave a statement outside the police station shortly after midnight, as the star was driven away. Questioned

He said: "Mr Townshend has been interviewed this evening by police. He has not been charged with anything and has been bailed to a future date when he may be required to answer some questions."
He added: "He is going home to get some rest. He is tired but all right."

As the statement was being read Townshend was spotted leaving the police station lying down on the back seat of a Mercedes, partially covered by what appeared to be a bag or a coat.
His solicitor said he had been questioned by police for an hour and 20 minutes.
The 57-year-old had said he used his credit card on one occasion to look at a website advertising child porn "purely to see what was there" and that he found paedophilia appalling.

His London mansion and office were searched by police after his name was included in a list of 7,000 people in Britain whose identities were passed on to British police by the American authorities who smashed a US pay-per-view service.
Scotland Yard confirmed the guitarist had been released on police bail but refused to say on which date he must return to a police station.
Officers from Scotland Yard's paedophile unit, major investigation team, and child protection unit - all attached to Operation Ore - arrived at Townshend's mansion at the top of Richmond Hill in south west London shortly before 3pm on Monday, following a prior arrangement with the rock star.
The house was searched and he was arrested on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children, suspicion of making indecent images of children and suspicion of incitement to distribute indecent images of children.
The star, unshaven and wearing a black jacket, left his house by a side entrance at 7.20pm and was driven off to the police station.

13.01.2003. Pete Townshend Is Arrested in Porn Case
 London (AP) Pete Townshend, the legendary rock guitarist and co-founder of The Who, was arrested Monday on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children, police said.
Townshend has acknowledged using an Internet Web site advertising child pornography, but said he was not a pedophile and was only doing research for an autobiography dealing with his own suspected childhood sexual abuse.
Police said they arrested Townshend, 57, under the Protection of Children Act after executing two searches at a business and a home in Richmond, Surrey, the town outside London where he lives. They said they took computers from the home and were examining them.
Townshend was not charged with a crime. Under British law, suspects are not charged immediately upon arrest and some people who are arrested are eventually released without charge.
Townshend was being held at a southwest London police station.
In a statement on Saturday, Townshend said that on one occasion he used a credit card to download pornographic images as part of his research and that he reported what he saw to police.
Townshend, who helped form The Who in the early 1960s, said he believed he was "sexually abused between the age of five and six and a half."
"I cannot remember clearly what happened, but my creative work tends to throw up nasty shadows - particularly in 'Tommy.' Some of the things I have seen on the Internet have informed my book, which I hope will be published later this year," he added.
The title character in Townshend's rock opera "Tommy" - a deaf, dumb and blind pinball wizard - is sexually abused by an uncle.
Earlier Monday, a group of police officers arrived at Townshend's Richmond home, one carrying a plastic crate containing packaging to store potential evidence.
His lawyer John Cohen told reporters the meeting with police was by "mutual agreement."
"We approached the police this morning and said that we should meet," he said.
Townshend, unshaven and wearing a black jacket, left his house by a side entrance at 7:20 p.m., about four hours after police arrived, and was driven away.

Scotland Yard later announced that a 57-year-old man was in custody on suspicion of making and possessing indecent images of children and of incitement to distribute them. A police spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the suspect was Townshend.
The arrest came as part of Operation Ore, a crackdown on people who view child pornography on the Internet.
British police have arrested 1,300 suspects as part of the sweep, including a judge, magistrates, dentists, doctors and a deputy school headmaster. Fifty police officers also have been arrested, and eight have been charged with offenses.
Operation Ore is the British arm of an FBI -led operation which traced 250,000 suspected pedophiles around the world through credit card details they used to pay for downloading child pornography. The names of British suspects were passed on to police here by U.S. investigators.
Townshend's friend, the model Jerry Hall (news), said Sunday he was an "avid supporter" of child welfare groups and had spoken at length about the dangers of child pornography on the Internet.
Daltrey, Townshend's bandmate from The Who, said: "My gut instinct is that he is not a pedophile and I know him better than most."
But Internet watchdogs have dismissed Townshend's explanation for entering an Internet site dealing with child pornography.
Mark Stephens, a lawyer and vice chairman of the Internet Watch Foundation said: "It is wrong-headed, misguided and illegal to look at or download or even to pay to download pedophiliac material and if you do so, you are likely to go to prison."
Townshend was one of The Who's four founding members, along with bassist John Entwistle, singer Daltrey and drummer Keith Moon. Moon died in 1978 and Entwistle died last year.
The group, founded in London in the early 1960s, was part of the British rock invasion along with the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. Their parade of hits included "I Can See For Miles," "Pinball Wizard," and "Won't Get Fooled Again."
The Who has been known for explosive shows that often culminated in the smashing of their musical instruments on stage.

13.01.2003. London (AFP) Die britische Polizei hat den Gitarristen der Rockband "The Who", Pete Townshend, im Rahmen von Ermittlungen zur Kinderpornografie festgenommen. Der 57-Jährige werde verdächtigt, pornografische Bilder von Kindern zu besitzen, sie anzufertigen sowie zu ihrer Verbreitung anzustiften, teilte die Londoner Polizei mit. Er sei auf einer Polizeiwache im Südwesten der britischen Hauptstadt in Untersuchungshaft. Die Beamten hatten zuvor mehrere Stunden lang Townshends Haus in Richmond Hill im Südwesten von London durchsucht.
Townshend hatte am Wochenende den Besuch einer kostenpflichtigen Internet-Seite mit Kinderpornos zugegeben. Er habe aus Neugier und Recherchegründen für seine Autobiographie ein einziges Mal mit seiner Kreditkarte für den Zugang zu einem solchen Internetangebot bezahlt. Die Internetseite habe er besucht, weil er seit sieben Jahren an einem Buch über seine Kindheit schreibe und glaube, er sei als Kind selbst sexuell missbraucht worden.
Presseberichten zufolge war Townshends Name auf einer Liste mit rund 7000 Briten aufgetaucht, die die US-Polizei wegen Pädophilie-Verdachts der britischen Polizei überreicht hatte. Nach einem Bericht der Tageszeitung "The Guardian" sollen darunter auch zwei Mitglieder des britischen Parlaments sein. Bislang wurden etwa 1300 Menschen festgenommen.
Townshend sagte unterdessen der Zeitung "The Sun", er sei "tief verletzt" über die Verdächtigung, pädophil zu sein. Er sei bereit, der Polizei seinen Computer zur Verfügung zu stellen, um so zu beweisen, dass er die kinderpornographischen Internet-Seiten lediglich zu Forschungszwecken aufgerufen habe.

20.01.2003. Salt Lake City Tribune: Tell Me, Who Are You, Pete Townshend? (commentary)

BY GWYNNE DYER
I wish he had not done it. I believe that his motives were good, but I never thought I would see the day when Pete Townshend would have to say: "I am not a pedophile."
Let me tell you a story about The Who. It was in the late '70s, a decade after their first flush of fame, and Pete Townshend had been off the road for almost three years fighting his drink and drug demons. (No special breaks for rich and famous rock stars who get offered endless supplies of really good drugs, but as Joe Cocker put it in his anthem, "It's hard to leave when you can't find the door.") So they were getting back out in public in a tentative way, doing unadvertised gigs in small venues in the less fashionable parts of London.
I heard about the one at the Sundowner up in Edmonton at the last minute, and frankly I had never been that far north in London before. Two more tube stops and you would be in Scotland. And as always, they gave value for money, playing the whole canon from "My Generation" to "Won't Get Fooled Again." One hour, two hours, three . . . and all 400 or 500 people packed into the venue are uneasy, looking at their watches, because we are a long way from home, and the last underground train is going now, and lots of us don't even have taxi fare to get back to our parts of London. But they are still playing and nobody leaves.
So finally, The Who leave the stage, close to midnight, and we all spill out into the winter dark wondering how the hell we are going to get home. And there, lined up outside the theater, are a dozen chartered buses with signs in their windows for all the different boroughs of London. It took a while, but they got us all home, right to our doors.
I am not a person who admits easily to having heroes, but if I were, Pete Townshend would be one of them. Certainly my only musician hero, and not just because The Who were the best rock band in history: the first who played it loud enough to make your ears bleed, the first who broke out of the simple guitars-and-love-song pattern of early rock 'n' roll . . . first synthesizers, first intelligent lyrics, first (and still best) rock opera -- and the one band that always gave full measure no matter how rich, famous and stoned the members got. Townshend, for all the early dramatics about smashing guitars onstage, always gave the impression of being an intelligent, serious, even moral man in a trade that is not exactly drowning in those qualities.
Now he is under suspicion for downloading child pornography from an American Internet portal that gave access to thousands of kiddie-porn Web sites, mostly in Russia or Indonesia. So are about 7,000 other people in Britain whose credit-card details were found when investigators in Texas broke into the site. About 1,300 homes in Britain have been raided in "Operation Ore," and among those arrested already are a judge, magistrates, hospital consultants and a deputy headmaster, along with around 50 policemen.
This was all happening very quietly, so that other suspects would not reformat their hard drives before the police got around to knocking on their doors -- but then somebody slipped the word to the Daily Mail in London that Pete Townshend's name had turned up among the 7,000.
Only hours after the Mail hit the streets, Townshend called a news conference to explain that he had visited the site only once, as research for a campaign he was working on against child abuse. Some of the research would be incorporated in a book he is writing about his childhood, for he was convinced that he had been sexually abused himself between the ages of 5 and 6 1/2, when he was staying with a mentally ill grandmother. "I cannot remember clearly what happened, but my creative work tends to throw up nasty shadows, particularly in 'Tommy'," he said. And the mob who love to see the rich and famous brought low went: "Yeah, right, he was doing research for a book."
It was a very stupid thing to do, but if you look at Pete Townshend's past, the explanation is credible. His rock opera "Tommy," written over 30 years ago, was all about child abuse at a time when the topic was not in the least fashionable. The scene in which the "deaf, dumb and blind kid" is left alone to be groped by his drunken Uncle Ernie ("Fiddle about, fiddle about") is the first time the sexual abuse of children actually comes up in mainstream English-language popular art. Townshend wouldn't say that he only entered the site once if he actually had done so many times, because he knows that the police already have the credit-card records.
The police might never even have contacted Townshend if the Mail had not run its story, for they are clearly exercising some judgment about which of the visitors to the site were actually users of child pornography: They haven't arrested all 7,000 people on the list. But once Townshend's name was in the public domain, they could not avoid arresting him -- not with all those other prominent people already under arrest. So now he probably will have to wade through the whole long nausea of a trial, though he still is likely to be found innocent in the end.
It's a miserable business and I wish he hadn't done it -- though not as much as he does, I am sure. But this is a good man in a bad time and place, not a bad man.

Gwynne Dyer is a London-based independent journalist whose articles are published in 45 countries.

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