MONT-TREMBLANT, QUE. -- The Group of Eight countries plan to create an international databank to compile cases of child pornography and track offenders around the world, federal Justice Minister Martin Cauchon announced yesterday.
How it will work is unclear, Mr. Cauchon said, but there is a will at the table that a database cataloguing images of victims and linking them to perpetrators is needed to help police smash pornography rings.
A lot of technical points need to be discussed with the member countries, the minister said, listing privacy concerns and national legislation as examples. There seems to be a consensus to proceed.
Mr. Cauchon made the announcement midway through an annual meeting of G8 justice ministers and their representatives at the Mont-Tremblant ski and golf resort in Quebec.
At a meeting with U.S. Attorney-General John Ashcroft, Mr. Cauchon said that Canada had also worked out a more specific deal with the United States that may include a shared databank.
A bilateral working group will also study how police can co-operate further and how the two governments should deal with recent court rulings.
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