LONDON, June 9 (Xinhuanet) -- Police from Britain, the United States, Canada and Australia are planning to monitor Internet chatrooms as part of an international crackdown on paedophiles, the BBC reported on Wednesday.

    Under the plan, police would be authorized to seize the finances of website operators who distribute child pornography and to freeze the credit cards of their customers.

    If a dialogue is potentially dangerous, police can warn online parties during their surveillance and can add a symbol to computer screens to let chatroom users know that they are being monitored.

    The police in the four countries are also stepping up efforts to persuade banks to call in the credit cards of people using them to pay for child pornography on websites.

    Internet chatroom users in the four countries could face 10 years in jail and having their details circulated to 180 countriesif they are convicted under anti-paedophile laws.

    Britain's National Crime Squad has identified more than 7,000 paedophile suspects and has gained 1,200 convictions in Britain alone.

    "We want to create the equivalent of a beat cop for the Internet," said Constable Jim Gamble, assistant chief of the National Crime Squad.

    "This should not be viewed as a Big Brother tactic -- this is about police becoming more visible on the Internet," he said. Enditem