eu: Child abuse image trade targeted

Profits made by peddlers of child sex abuse images are being targeted by a pan-European alliance.The European Financial Coalition brings together payment firms, law enforcement agencies and child protection groups to disrupt commerce in the images.By tracking cash made by sites selling abuse images, investigators hope to stop the trade and find abusers.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7920807.stmEU fights huge increase in web child abuse
The number of child sex abuse websites in Europe has soared and the violence shown has become more extreme, the European commission and Europol, the European police agency, warned yesterday.Jacques Barrot, EU commissioner for freedom, justice and security said Europe was facing “an extremely dramatic situation” after the number of child abuse websites increased fourfold between 2004 and 2007. At the launch of an international coalition to disrupt finances of the online child sex trade, he warned that organised criminal gangs were making an “indecent profit” for “horrific crimes against the most vulnerable people – children”.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/mar/04/child-sex-abuse-websites-increaseVisa, Microsoft join EU fight against Internet child porn [AFP]
A new coalition of police, Internet providers, financial groups and NGOs was launched Tuesday to tackle the growing flow of child abuse pictures distributed online, the EU commission announced.The European Financial Coalition (EFC) — led by Britain’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) and including MasterCard, Microsoft, PayPal, VISA Europe and the NGO Missing Children Europe — will work together in the fight against child abuse images.
http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-technology/visa-microsoft-join-eu-fight-against-internet-child-porn-20090304-8njd.html
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-technology/visa-microsoft-join-eu-fight-against-internet-child-porn-20090304-8njd.htmlEC renews efforts to fight online child pornography [IDG]
The European Commission has set up a coalition of public and private organizations to fight the growing problem of the sexual abuse of children on the Internet, Commission Vice President Jacques Barrot said Tuesday.The number of Web sites containing images of child sex abuse quadrupled between 2003 and 2007, he said in a speech in London.
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/030309-ec-renews-efforts-to-fight.htmlKeynote speech by Jacques Barrot, Vice-President of the European Commission, “An indecent profit, a horrific crime”, Preparing a European response to combat the commercial distribution of child abuse images
… Today, there are approximately 3000 commercial child-exploitation and abuse web sites, with an estimated three hundred sites operating on the internet at any one time.Sites containing images of child sex abuse have quadrupled between 2003 and 2007.These are unacceptable facts, which I will not take for granted. This is not only ‘indecent profit’ as your title for the conference underlines, but horrific crimes against the most vulnerable people – children.As EU Commissioner responsible for Freedom, Justice and Security, I remain committed to tackling this issue.
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/09/84