THE Church in Wales is investigating claims that the church website has been "hijacked" by a New York stripper's webcam.

Visitors to a site with a similar address to the Church in Wales' official site have ended up visiting the stripper's live webcam.

People logging on to read the latest church news have instead been confronted with a 19-year-old woman in various states of undress.

The Church had registered churchinwales.org.uk but the American alternative churchinwales.org houses the pornographic website.

On the website the teenager says: "I am 19 and currently a student in New York City. I like to show off on my webcam." The adults-only website contains links to other pornographic webcams.

But a Church in Wales spokesman said it would be "impossible" to buy up all additional domain names.

Sion Brynach said: "We are presently in discussions with our internet service provider to see what, if any, action we can take to resolve this situation. However, regulation of the Internet remains in its infancy and its anarchic nature is part and parcel of it.

"The Church in Wales has registered the domain names www. churchinwales.org.uk and also www.eglwysynghymru.org.uk.

"But with several thousand possible permutations on these names, it would clearly be impossible for us to kill this particular many-headed hydra by buying up all those additional domain names.

"It is also the case that with the proliferation of domain names, some companies are cynically buying up those names and attempting to embarrass organisations, such as ourselves, into buying those areas of the web at an inflated price."

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