Authorities are banding together ever more closely with the financial sector and Internet providers in hopes of disrupting the multibillion-dollar global child-pornography trade.
These concerted efforts come as the child-porn industry has shifted in the last five years to a more anonymous, web-based system for moving funds, according to law-enforcement officials, technology specialists and money-laundering experts.
To root out the companies that supply an estimated $20 billion annual global child-porn market, the Financial Coalition Against Child Pornography — comprised of Internet service providers, financial heavyweights and technology companies — is working closely with law-enforcement agencies in the United States and around the world.