2006年VOA标准英语-US Government Working with Credit Card Companie

By Mil Arcega
Washington, DC
25 September 2006
 
watch Child Porn report

 
The U.S. government is looking for ways to curb¹ the multi-billion dollar child pornography business, which lawmakers say has grown almost as fast as the Internet.   The U.S. Senate Banking² Committee believes one solution is to remove credit card privileges for online child porn rings.

A study by a children's advocacy group says images of sexually exploited children have increased by 1,500 percent in the last 10 years. 

 
Paul Sarbanes
Ranking Democratic Party Senator Paul Sarbanes says one way to fight the growing problem is to remove the financial incentive³. "Without access to the payment system, it's reasonable to believe that the Internet child pornography industry will certainly shrink and perhaps die.  That is why an essential way to identify and stop the criminals involved is to, quote, follow the money".

 
Richard Shelby
Republican Senator Richard Shelby says that requires the cooperation of credit card companies. "Unfortunately our banks and credit card companies, which have been instrumental in the Internet commerce revolution, have become an unintentional part of the problem.  Credit cards provide an easy and quick method of payment and are accepted worldwide.  Purveyors of child pornography know this and they use the Internet and the credit card system to exploit and abuse innocent children for profit."

 
Mark MacCarthy
Some credit card companies have already joined forces with financial institutions and child advocacy groups. Mark MacCarthy is the head of VISA card's Public Policy. "In August of this year our search firm examined over 11 million Internet sites a day and found two child pornography sites that accepted Visa cards.  Of course that's two too many."

 
Child porn sites accept credit card payments
Since then Visa has identified nine more sites.  Ernie Allen, the president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said one website had 70,000 members who were paying $30 a month to view children being sexually assaulted. "The reason they're into it now is that the profits are enormous and the risks are minimal⁴.  What we're trying to do is increase the risks and eliminate the profits."

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales wants tougher laws.  He's lobbying Congress to force Internet providers to keep records for up to two years to make it easier for law enforcement officials to prosecute⁵ people who buy and sell sexually explicit⁶ images of children. "Each image literally⁷ documents a crime scene," he said.

Estimates show Internet child pornography is a $20 billion a year industry.  Child advocacy groups say the goal is to eliminate such commercial exploitation by the year 2008.

1 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

2 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

3 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

4 minimal   

adj.尽可能少的，最小的

参考例句：

• They referred to this kind of art as minimal art.他们把这种艺术叫微型艺术。
• I stayed with friends, so my expenses were minimal.我住在朋友家，所以我的花费很小。

5 prosecute   

vt.告发；进行；vi.告发，起诉，作检察官

参考例句：

• I am trying my best to prosecute my duties.我正在尽力履行我的职责。
• Is there enough evidence to prosecute?有没有起诉的足够证据？

6 explicit   

adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的

参考例句：

• She was quite explicit about why she left.她对自己离去的原因直言不讳。
• He avoids the explicit answer to us.他避免给我们明确的回答。

7 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。