The problem is when an accusation is made,or suspicion is raised,of involvement in viewing or perpetrating paedophilic acts,it forever leaves a question mark over the accused.Once accused the doubt will remain in at least some peoples minds even if the accused is exonerated of any wrong doing,for a supposedly intelligent man Townshend has been very foolish and possibly worse,he really had no choice in todays climate but to pre-empt any possible allegations.

There are certainly malevolent people on the internet who are involved with all sorts of nefarious activities,but I am sure that they belong to a very small minority and I don't think that the general population should have to sacrifice their civil liberties because of the actual or (more importantly) alleged wrong doing of an aberrant minority.I'd prefer that the government let the general public have the benefit of the doubt,the alternative to the benefit of the doubt could lead the way to a society that none of us would be happy with.