Who fans make a difference with New York Post

[Brian Cady <brianinatlanta2001@xxxxxxxxx>]

On line at:
http://www.nypost.com/news/worldnews/66694.htm

PETE RIPS SMUT FIENDS
By MARSHA KRANES

January 15, 2003 -- Rock legend Pete Townshend
remained in seclusion at his London mansion yesterday
following his kiddie-porn bust - while an impassioned
letter he wrote, denouncing the easy availability of
the sickening smut, began circulating in cyberspace. 
In the lengthy message to fans, The Who guitarist
blasted Internet child-porn peddlers as "criminals"
and their sick product as "evil." 

Townshend, 60, posted the lengthy letter - entitled "A
Different Bomb" - on his Web site in January 2002
following the suicide of an actress friend who was
haunted by the sexual abuse she suffered as a child. 

Fans yesterday e-mailed copies of the letter to one
another and downloaded it from Internet news sites.
One fan who sent a copy to The Post noted, "Unless he
knowingly was under suspicion a year ago, this article
seems to help support his story." 

Townshend's story is that he checked out child porn
sites "maybe three or four times" and "only entered [a
porn site] once using a credit card." 

He did so, he said, while doing research for a book
he's writing about the sex abuse he believes he
suffered as a child while in the care of his mentally
ill grandmother. 

He said that he never downloaded any porn, and
insisted, "I am not a pedophile." 

Scotland Yard arrested Townshend on Monday on
suspicion of possessing indecent images of children
and of inciting others to distribute kiddie porn. 

He was released on bail early yesterday after signing
an agreement that he would make himself available for
further questioning later in the month. 

Townshend has remained mum since his arrest. But in
his year-old letter, he expressed concern that
innocent people could end up under arrest by police on
a "witch hunt" to catch anyone visiting illicit Web
sites. 

He noted that he accidentally stumbled upon a
kiddie-porn site in 1997 when he typed several
harmless words into a search engine. 

"Within about 10 minutes . . . I was confronted with a
free' image of a male infant of about two years old
being [sodomized] by an unseen man . . ." 

Townshend continued: "I reached for the phone. I
intended to call the police and take them through the
process I had stumbled upon - and bring the
pornographer involved to book. Then I thought twice
about it." 

He said he consulted a lawyer who "advised me to do
nothing. He advised me that I most certainly should
not download the image as evidence,' so I did as he
advised, nothing." 

Townshend's arrest was the latest of more than 1,300
in England to date in a far-ranging probe that is
expected to reach into Parliament in the next few
weeks, according to published reports in London. 


=====
-Brian in Atlanta
The Who This Month!
http://www.thewhothismonth.com
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