CYBERSPACE – The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), and its sister organization, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) have announced that 18 leading financial institutions and internet companies have joined their effort to combat commercial child pornography.The new “Financial Coalition Against Child Pornography” includes a variety of banks, credit card companies, third-party billing solution providers, and ISPs. Founding members of the coalition include America Online, American Express, Bank of America, Citigroup, MasterCard, Microsoft, PayPal, Visa, Wells Fargo Bank and Yahoo Inc.

The stated goal of the alliance is to “eradicate commercial child pornography by 2008.”

“The internet has no geographic or jurisdictional borders,” said Baron Daniel Cardon de Lichtbuer, chairman of the ICMEC and former chief executive officer of Bank Brussels Lambert. “Battling the proliferation of child pornography websites requires the efforts of many. Law enforcement around the world is engaged, but we must also disrupt the economics of this despicable business. The work of this Coalition will be key to accomplishing that goal.”

“Not only have we seen an increase in reports of internet child pornography, but the victims are becoming younger and the images are becoming more graphic and violent,” added Ernie Allen, president and CEO of ICMEC and NCMEC, and chairman of the coalition. “To eliminate the commercial viability of child pornography, we must stop the flow of money. To do that, we need the involvement of the world’s leaders in the payments industry and the internet. The founding members of the Financial Coalition Against Child Pornography are to be commended for joining this critical fight.”

Allen’s assessment that victims of child porn are becoming younger and the images more ghastly closely echoed statements issued last week by the Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection (ASACP).

Last week, following the announced indictment of 27 people in the United States, Canada, Australia, and England in connection child porn-related chat rooms and websites, the ASACP commented that the case “confirms a frightening trend that we have detected in recent reports coming through ASACP’s online reporting hotline: the children involved seem to be even younger, and the abuse even more horrific.”