e've seen their innocent faces on flyers and milk cartons for years: the missing children, very few of whom ever make it home. Some end up in the hands of pornographers, and most of us can't even bear to picture what a nightmare their lives have become, if they are even still alive.

Governments, law enforcement agencies, nonprofit organizations and countless private citizens worldwide are working to eliminate the growing scourge of child pornography. Unfortunately, Web sites catering to this sordid, illegal activity are multiplying, not decreasing.

And all too often, customers pay for the prurient services offered by these Web sites with ... bankcards.

But now, the good guys have just got a big boost from prominent financial institutions and Internet industry leaders. In March, 18 of them joined with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) to form the Financial Coalition Against Child Pornography.

Founding members of this coalition include such powerhouses as America Online, American Express Co., Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup, Discover Financial Services LLC, First Data Corp., MasterCard International, Microsoft Corp., North American Bancard, PayPal, Visa U.S.A., Wells Fargo & Co. and Yahoo! Inc.

Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), Chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee brought these leaders together. "If people were purchasing heroin or cocaine and using their credit cards, we would be outraged and would do something about it," Shelby said. "This is worse."

Ernie Allen, Chairman of the new coalition and President and Chief Executive Officer of NCMEC and ICMEC said, "To eliminate the commercial viability of child pornography, we must stop the flow of money. To do that, we need the involvement of the world's leaders in the payments industry and the Internet. The founding members of the Financial Coalition Against Child Pornography are to be commended for joining this critical fight."

To learn more about this issue, visit www.cybertipline.com, www.inhope.org, www.missingkids.com, and .