Call for coalition to fight against child pornography A report by the international law firm Allen & Overy on behalf of Missing Children Europe creates a framework for a coalition of privacy authorities, financial institutions and internet services to fight against child pornography.

The illegal market is worth several billion euros and by getting key actors in finance and the internet to work together it may be possible to make great advances against the pornographers by stifling the market itself.

Missing Children Europe, a federation of NGOs active against the disappearance and sexual exploitation of children are hoping that such a coalition will help institutions to change privacy and terms of service conditions to enable this most important work to take place.

Vice-President Barrot, European Commissioner responsible for Justice, Freedom and Security expressed the European Commission's strong support for this move:
"The coalition will bring together all stakeholder groups engaged in the fight against the commercial distribution of images of child sexual abuse on the Internet, in particular law enforcement authorities, non-governmental organisations, banks, credit card and on-line payment companies, internet service providers and other internet based private operators."

He added:
"In this area, the Commission is contributing to setting up a mechanism to track payments made with a credit card or an electronic payment when purchasing images of sexual abuses of children on the Internet, in view of terminating contracts and freezing assets, as well as tracking and prosecuting criminals. Several preparatory meetings with the main stakeholders have taken place and a draft document moots the possibility of a platform for all the partners (banks, credit card and on-line payment companies, Internet access providers and national authorities)."