§ Judy MallaberTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the number of individuals who have had their credit card facilities withdrawn by the issuing bank after court convictions for using the card to purchase child pornography images. [173056]
§ Paul GogginsA consideration as to whether an individual has their credit card facilities withdrawn by754W an issuing bank or other card supplier following a conviction for an offence relating to the purchase of child abuse images is a matter for each individual card issuer to decide, dependent upon the terms and conditions associated with the card. There is no centrally held record of the number of instances of such an action taking place.
Government, the credit card industry, and law enforcement are actively considering what action can be taken in respect of individuals convicted of an offence which has involved the purchase of child abuse images using any payment mechanisms. More widely work remains ongoing to proactively identifying sites selling child abuse images, seeking the removal of payment facilities from these sites and appropriate action taken by law enforcement.
§ Judy MallaberTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had with the credit card industry about action to prevent the use of credit card facilities to fund the purchase of(a) child pornography images and (b) illegal websites. [173057]
§ Paul GogginsExtensive work has been undertaken on the issue of preventing credit cards and other payment mechanisms from being used to purchase child abuse images online. The Association of Payment Clearing Services (APACS), the UK Trade Association for Payments, the Internet Watch Foundation, and the Children's Charities' Coalition for Internet Safety, have all worked actively to prevent such activity and have developed close working relationships over the last few years. This resulted in a joint announcement by them in March 2003.
The arrangements now in place have made it possible for law enforcement agencies to become more effective in investigating detecting and taking action against those sites that use specific payment services to sell child abuse images. The relevant card companies will also seek to trace the banks and the billing companies involved in processing payments and to cease the use of their cards for such activity. Units such as the National Hi Tech Crime Unit through their industry outreach programme, have been particularly successful in working closely with industry on intelligence and target hardening to design out hi-tech crime.
It is clear that co-ordinated action by the major credit card schemes in conjunction with other relevant organisations can have a major impact on the commercial trade in child abuse images. We welcome the efforts that have been made so far and will continue to work with them to make this as effective as possible, involving as many different payment mechanisms as is possible.
While much of the focus of preventing the use of credit cards to facilitate illegal activities has to date focused on their association with child abuse images, work has also been undertaken to prevent credit cards and other payment mechanisms from being used to prevent a wider range of illegal activities on line.