DES MOINES, Iowa—Hot on the scent of sex traffickers everywhere, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller now wants online classified site backpage.com to do away with its adult services section, similar to the way craigslist.com shuttered its section, albeit under extreme pressure from a cabal of attorneys general that included Miller.
In fact, Miller isn’t alone this time, either. Twenty state attorneys general are calling for the Village Voice Media-owned website to self-censor. Miller said the group has sent a letter to backpage.com demanding action.
"I don't think we have an illusion that we can totally stop this," said Miller. The internet is too broad and wide and the opportunities are too great. But the question is: are we going to have more or it or less of it?”
Connecticut Attorney General and U.S. Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal, who also signed the letter, told the Associated Press that backpage.com makes $17.5 million from prostitution ads.
