The entities involved cast long shadows: MasterCard, Microsoft, PayPal and Visa Europe, along with an organization called Missing Children Europe. The full coalition will be called the European Financial Coalition, or EFC.
European Union Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot blamed the expansion of the Internet for the increased growth of the child sex market.
“It is a reality that the rapid growth of the Internet has opened up a serious criminal market for images of child sex abuse," he said. "The European Financial Coalition will help identify and protect victims, and, above all, confiscate the profits from these criminal activities.”
Tech analyst Iaki criticized the coalition's plan.
"[It's] sad to see that their goals are first and foremost to confiscate profits, rather than helping identify and protect victims," Iaki wrote for Best4Tech.com.
But regardless of the semantics, the coalition does intend to identify victims. According to ArsTechnica, the coalition will find victims, arrest criminals and stop all online transactions that help move child porn.
Joan Irvine, CEO of the Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection (ASACP), praised the new coalition and noted that ASACP has been a member of a similar organization in the USA, the Financial Coalition Against Child Pornography (FCACP).
In addition, Irvine said that her organization is in contact with the EFC.
"The key in stopping commercial child pornography is eliminating the flow of money to the criminals who create the [child pornography] or use [child pornography] spam emails to phish for credit card information,” she said. “ASACP strongly supports this strategy as the most effective way to put commercial child pornographers out of business and hopefully eventually behind bars. None of this work would be possible without the support of the adult industry."
