Websites Charge $400 to Remove Mugshots of Innocent People from Internet
Calling the practice “extortion,” Columbia, South Carolina, councilman and defense attorney Seth Rose recently struck a blow against websites that post booking photos—aka mugshots—taken by police and local jails and then charge for their removal, even when the individuals in the photos were never formally charged, much less convicted, of any crime.
Months ago, Rose’s clients started complaining to him about the websites (which can be found easily via web search engines), because even after they had gotten their arrest records expunged, the sites were refusing to remove them unless they were paid a hefty fee, as much as $400. Often, his clients found that their photos appear in the first page of results in a web search, causing serious damage to their reputations.
Although Rose was able to persuade local law enforcement authorities to remove booking photos from their online databases for the time being, literally thousands of counties, towns and cities around the country still post mugshots. Because the photos are considered “public records,” websites are able to download them free of charge, and because they are not copyrighted, the sites may do as they please with them, including charging exorbitant amounts for taking them down.
One of the websites, of which there are several, claims to have more than 8 million mugshots from 46 states, searchable by name and locale. “Right now there’s two or three [sites], but what if there’s 10 or 20?” Rose said to journalists. “I feel like it’s lawful extortion.” Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott agreed: “Is what they’re doing ethically right? Probably not. Have they broken a law? No,” Lott said. “They’ve been arrested,” Lott said of those who were never convicted. “This publication is convicting people.”
Given the current state of the law, individuals whose pictures are posted on one of these websites have little choice but to pay the requested fee, which is no guarantee that their booking photo won’t appear on another such site. A broader solution will have to await action by state and local governments, which could either stop posting booking photos entirely, or pass legislation limiting their use by third party websites.
-Matt Bewig
To Learn More:
Richland County Jail Stops Publishing Photos after “Extortion” Sites Discovered (by R. Darren Price, South Carolina State)
Online Mugshot Extortion is its Own Crime (by Noah Sidman-Gale, Safe Shepherd)
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