Operation Ore Investigation and Police Caution
Townshend was cautioned by the British police in 2003 as part of Operation Ore. Following a news leak that suggested to Townshend that he was among the subjects of the investigation, he came forward to publicly state that on one occasion, he had used a credit card to register with a website advertising child pornography. Townshend, who had posted essays on his personal website in 2002 as part of his campaign against the widespread availability of child pornography on the internet, claimed that he had entered the site for research purposes and had not downloaded any images. A four-month police investigation, including forensic examination of all of his computers, established that Townshend was not in possession of any illegal downloaded images. The police elected to caution him, stating, "It is not a defence to access these images for research or out of curiosity." In a statement issued by his lawyer, Townshend said, "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."
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