Making a case
AG targets site’s adult ads
- States claim Backpage.com aids prostitution
- Site rejects request as censorship
Maine has joined 20 other states in urging Backpage.com, a website offering a wide array of services and products for sale, to end their adult services section that law enforcement claims is being used to advertise prostitution.
“This is happening in Maine and across the country,” said Attorney General Janet Mills. A letter she and the other states’ AGs sent to the legal firm representing the website spells out that Backpage is failing to adequately screen ads on the site.
“We believe that ads for prostitution, including ads trafficking children, are rampant on the site and that the volume of these ads will grow in light of Craigslist’s recent decision to eliminate the adult services section of its site,” the AGs wrote. Mills joined the effort last month by several state attorneys general to get Craigslist to remove its adult services section, which the site agreed to after extensive media coverage of the request.
“We recognize that Backpage may lose considerable revenue generated by the adult services ads,” the letter went on to say. “Still, no amount of money can justify the scourge of illegal prostitution and the misery of the women and children who will continue to be victimized.”
But in a posting on its website, Backpage rejected the AGs’ request, insisting it is following the law and branding the request a form of censorship. “Backpage.com respectfully declines the recent demand by a group of 21 state attorneys general that it close its adult classifieds website,” the company wrote. “Backpage.com is a legal business and operates its website in accordance with all applicable laws. Censorship will not create public safety nor will it rid the world of exploitation.”
Mills said the federal government should look at laws that could be used to prevent websites from listing what amounts to ads for prostitution. Mills said she also expects further actions by attorneys general from across the country. “If it saves one child’s life, one child’s safety, one child’s sanity — if so, it is worth doing,” she said.
“If it saves one child’s life, one child’s safety, one child’s sanity — if so, it is worth doing.” AG Janet Mills, on removing adult ads from Backpage.com
Delegation split on fair pay act
- Dems favor Obama-backed bill
- Collins, Snowe cite existing legislation
President Obama has called on Congress to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act this year, but the proposal has divided Maine’s congressional delegation and the Senate may not even consider the measure in coming months.
Obama is supporting the House-passed measure, which would ensure fair compensation for workers regardless of gender, following passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act signed into law last January.
“We ought to make sure that these issues can be dealt with quickly, whether it is allowing them to sue or giving the Department of Labor greater authority to make a determination,” said Rep. Mike Michaud, who voted for the bill. Nationally, a woman earns only 77 cents for every dollar a man earns for the same job, he said.
A study by the American Association of University Women indicates Maine is doing better than the nation overall, with women earning 80 cents for every dollar a man earns for the same job. Using Census data, the study also found a greater disparity among the college educated. Among full-time, college-educated workers over age 25, women received only 71 cents for every dollar earned by a man in the same job.
“When you are talking about paycheck fairness, it’s hard to worry about whether or not this will harm businesses that are discriminating, actively, against women to earn an equal wage,” said Rep. Chellie Pingree.
But Maine’s two U.S. senators are wary of the version of the bill that was passed on a bipartisan basis in the House. “It is broad in scope and unprecedented in some respects,” said Sen. Olympia Snowe. The bill removes caps on monetary damages a person could receive by successfully suing a business for pay discrimination, which would raise the cost of doing business for all companies by making it more difficult to get insurance to cover such claims, she said.
“The Paycheck Fairness Act is understandably attempting to address an issue, [but] it can already be addressed through existing legislation,” Snowe said. Lawsuits can be filed under the Equal Pay Act, the Civil Rights Act and the Ledbetter Act, she said.
Like Snowe, Sen. Susan Collins voted for the Ledbetter Act, but does not believe additional legislation is needed for women to achieve pay fairness.
Broadband access bemoaned
- Small businesses losing out to wired competitors
- Business software often inaccessible
Maine’s small businesses are struggling to compete in a global market with broadband accessibility that is sometimes surpassed by even Third World countries, according to several business professors and lawmakers.
“It is embarrassing at times,” said Sen. Chris Rector, R-Thomaston, who serves on the Legislature’s Business, Research and Economic Development Committee and the Broadband Strategy Council. “There are a lot of places where we do not have reliable cell phone service, let alone where the smart phones work.”
Lawmakers have been trying to address the problem through the ConnectMe Authority, which makes grants to build infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas. But the state as a whole is not keeping up with changes in technology even with some large federal grants to improve fiber optic connections, he said.
High-speed Internet access, or broadband, is a must for most businesses, according to Nory Jones, a professor at the University of Maine business school and director of graduate business programs.“Maine is 97% small businesses,” she said. “Small business people don’t usually have the time or expertise to keep up with changes. But it’s also a big problem when they can’t get access in the first place.”
In a rural state like Maine, wireless broadband is even more important as more computer programs, called applications, operate off of servers. “Programs like accounting software and inventory software are now on cloud servers because it allows for better management of systems, but they need reliable broadband connections to work properly, “ Jones said. “In many areas of our state, we still don’t have that access.”
Mount Desert Island, home to Acadia National Park, is the largest single destination point for tourists visiting the state, but Howard Daniel, a marketing professor at the University of Maine, said the inability to use smart phones, iPads and other devices affects whether some visitors decide to come back. “There is a very popular application in the smart phones that allows a person to find a restaurant or some attraction, get directions to it and make a reservation,” he said. “This is used a lot now and is growing among those from the Boston area or New York. There are a lot of places in Maine where it just does not work because the wireless connection is not fast enough.”
Mal Leary runs Capitol News Service in Augusta. He can be reached at editorial@mainebiz.biz. Read more of Mal’s columns here.
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