A Mugshot Profiteer Attempts to Defend the Business Model

Mugshots.com makes its money by scraping local law enforcement websites for booking photos and then publishing them online, with really good SEO. If you Google the name of someone who's recently been arrested, chances are a result from mugshots.com or a site just like it will be among the top search results. In this way, booking photo websites aren't a lot different from, say, The Orlando Sentinel, which also posts booking photos. The difference is that Mugshots.com also makes money by charging humiliated people hundreds of dollars to have their photos taken down.

A few weeks ago I argued that states should change open records laws to exempt booking photos, or at least limit whose photos can be released. Making an exception for the worst of the worst would satisfy the most common argument for releasing mugshots in the first place ("If someone in my neighborhood has a record of sexually assaulting women or children/settling disputes with violence/breaking into peoples' homes, I deserve to know"), while sparing nonviolent offenders a lifetime of reduced job prospects and social ostracization.