(AgapePress) - The Financial Coalition Against Child Pornography is teaming up with the U.S. credit card market in an attempt to take the profitability out of online child porn, a multibillion-dollar, international business.

Participating credit card companies will report child porn sites they find that are accepting their cards as a means of payment for the porn. They will also block these transactions or possibly help track sellers and buyers if an investigation by law enforcement results.

Ernie Allen, of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), and Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) brought the coalition together, with the goal to eradicate commercial child porn by 2008.

"The scope of the problem is much greater than we ever thought," Allen says. "It's mind-boggling." NCMEC's CyberTipline reports more than 340,000 reports of child porn websites -- up from just 24,400 five years ago.

Allen explains how one website can attract thousands of customers, predominantly male, who purchase $29 monthly subscriptions on their credit cards. "People are getting into this because they see children as a commodity," Allen adds. "There's no question organized crime is involved."

The NCMEC spokesman explains the groups' strategy. "To eliminate the commercial viability of child pornography, we must stop the flow of money," he says. "To do that, we need the involvement of the world's leaders in the payments industry and the Internet."

Participating companies include Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover. In addition, Bank of America, Chase, Citigroup and PayPal are involved. However, MasterCard and American Express do not intend to reveal customer identities unless subpoenaed to do so.

"This is the broadest, most comprehensive coalition we've been involved in," said MasterCard executive Joshua Peirez. "This is not a competitiveness issue. This is about protecting children."

The bulk of this article, printed with permission, appears in the August 2006 issue of AFA Journal, a monthly publication of the American Family Association.

© 2006 AgapePress all rights reserved.

 

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