Online Mug Shot Sites Hijacking Young Futures

Online Mug Shot Sites Hijacking Young Futures

News, Technology

By Jessica Walters

Anyone who searches for your name online could easily find any old mugshots, thanks to for-profit sites like Mugshots, BustedMugshots, and JustMugshots. These companies routinely show up high in Google searches — meaning your mugshot is likely to be the first thing that shows up under a search for your name.

Can You Make Your Mug Shot Disappear?

Although mug shots are mere artifacts from arrests — not proof of conviction — they sure don’t look awesome (great hair day or not) to potential employers, nosy neighbors, or would-be beaus. Whether you have turned your life around since your arrest or your charges were dropped in the first place, that incriminating mug shot and a nice little caption of what you were arrested for can remain online to haunt you for life.

One of the ways these mug shot websites make money is by charging a fee to remove images. Fees can run anywhere from $30 to $400 or more — per site. Today there are more than 90 mug shot sites on the web.

Mug Shot Sites Are Legal

Mug shot sites are perfectly legal, but some states are looking for ways to curb them. The governor of Oregon recently signed a bill that gives such sites 30 days to take down the image of anyone who can prove exoneration or an expunged record — free of charge. Georgia passed a similar law in May, and Utah already prohibits county sheriffs from giving out booking photographs to sites that charge to delete. Legislators are finding plenty of resistance, however — much of it from journalists asserting that public records should indeed be public. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press argues that restrictions on booking photographs raises First Amendment issues.

Mug shot sites glean most of their images from sheriffs’ websites, which — again — isn’t illegal. Owners of websites certainly have their arguments for why the practice isn’t unethical. “No one should have to go to the courthouse to find out if their kid’s baseball coach has been arrested, or if the person they’re going on a date with tonight has been arrested,” says Arthur D’Antonio III, 25-year-old founder of JustMugshots. JustMugshots does have a “courtesy removal service,” allowing people who have been exonerated or not charged — or are able to demonstrate that they have turned around their lives — to have their image removed from the site for free. How often this actually happens is unknown. The problem with these sites’ helpfulness is that those who have committed terrible crimes but have loads of money can pay off these sites — thus undoing some of the good sites like these do to inform the public.

Extortion Much?

Many mug shot sites are being sued in a class-action lawsuit filed last year by Ohio Lawyer Scott A. Ciolek, who argues that such sites violate Ohio’s right-of publicity statute.  The statute gives state residents some control over commercial use of their name and likeness.  Ciolek also claims the sites violate state extortion laws. Embarrassing someone unless they pay you money? Well, if you look at it that way… Unfortunately for Ciolek, The United States Supreme Court has ruled numerous times that mug shots are public records. Mug shot websites are simply republishing public records and making them more accessible.

Those wanting to evade mug-shot sites can try removal services like removeslander.com, which are springing up quickly. They aren’t cheap, though (think $899 to remove multiple mug shots), and reputation-management companies claim they are a waste of money.

Can Google Erase Your Crimes?

Lawmakers may not be able to win the battle for individuals in favor of changing the mug-shot Web site situation.  Maybe Google can help.  Google could demote mug-shot sites to reduce — if not eliminate — their power to stigmatize, which would at least keep your mug shot from appearing next to (or above) your LinkedIn profile in a Google search. Google likes to stick to their cute little algorithms, but they looked at the issue, did a little tweaking, and now mug shot sites tend to not show up on the first page of a Google search.  PayPal, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover have severed ties with mug-shot sites or are in the process of doing so. Visa is investigating the business practices of the sites to make sure they check out legally. Now coping with drops in web traffic and few financial services to work with, mug shot websites just might lose in the end, legal or not.