Paedophiles could lose credit cards

Convicted viewers of online child porn could have their details passed to banks and credit card companies

Changes to legislation in the UK could give courts the power to confiscate the credit cards of anyone convicted of viewing child pornography online.

The new powers have been proposed as additions to the Data Protection Act and are being debated in parliament today.

Children's charity NCH has been lobbying for the changes for three years to improve the targeting of more affluent middle class paedophiles. 

"The prospect of losing a credit card could be seen as more of a deterrent than some current sentencing options," said a report from the NCH.

If the amendments to the Act are passed, those convicted of viewing child porn on websites would have their details passed to banks and credit card companies.

It is not known whether the changes would allow credit card companies to share the information.

However, the offence may be restricted to the card that was used to pay for access to websites, and the offender would not necessarily be stopped from possessing other credit cards.