Credit Card Companies Pledge to Help Fight Child Pornography

WASHINGTON — Executives from credit card companies, including Visa, MasterCard and American Express, told a Congressional panel Thursday that they were determined to eliminate the use of their services in the Internet child pornography business.

But they also said it was difficult to keep pace with those who seek to exploit children on the Web and called for broad collaboration among those in the financial services industry and law enforcement authorities around the world.

“Child pornography is a global problem in need of a coordinated response,” said Mark MacCarthy, a senior vice president for public policy for Visa U.S.A.

Mr. MacCarthy said that by working together with other financial services companies, the industry could “enhance our efforts to identify Web sites and pinpoint merchants that are trafficking in this illicit activity, cut them off from use of our network and provide assistance to law enforcement to put them in jail and shut them down for good.”

“The way forward lies in collective action,” he said.

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