Co-Owners of Mugshots.com Charged With Extortion

JonesBones

JonesBones

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These fuckin scumbags. Good.


The California Attorney General announced criminal charges against four men it claims are the owners and operators of Mugshots.com. The website has been under fire for years over its practice of scraping law enforcement websites to publish mugshots and often incomplete criminal records. It then demands large fees through a sister site for removing the information.

The notorious website has long been the most prominent example of a cottage industry designed to prey on people who have been arrested. Even in cases where no charges were brought, or suspects were found innocent, Mugshots.com kept arrest images online, making it difficult for them to do normal things like get a job or find housing. According to a statement from the Attorney General, when a victim asks to have their information removed, they’re directed to a secondary website called Unpublisharrest.com that charges a “de-publishing” fee.

https://gizmodo.com/alleged-co-owners-of-mugshots-com-charged-with-extortio-1826135342
 
Seems like a shitty business practices. Surely employers could get in trouble if it was found out that they used the website as a form of background checking and made their decisions solely on that website.
 
Hopefully the irony is arresting those website owners and providing them with their own mugshot that they can't get deleted
 
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Good fuck them I hope they get real hard time.
 
Lowmanproblems said:
Seems like a shitty business practices. Surely employers could get in trouble if it was found out that they used the website as a form of background checking and made their decisions solely on that website.
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They don't have to. The whole thing of it was they have it show up early in the results just googling the person's name. Otherwise nobody would pay. Even if that weren't the case, employers wouldn't have to admit to using that to make decisions.
 
ookii said:
Hopefully the irony is giving those arresting those website owners because of their extortion and providing them with their own mugshot that they can't get deleted
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I was looking for their mugshots. I thought it would be fitting for this thread. They are in custody. Or at least were. Can't find a mugshot though. These people are also the "alleged owners". I guess there was some grey area but it seems pretty certain these were the guys running it. Surprised it took so long.
 
nostradumbass said:
They don't have to. The whole thing of it was they have it show up early in the results just googling the person's name. Otherwise nobody would pay. Even if that weren't the case, employers wouldn't have to admit to using that to make decisions.
Click to expand...

Ya, you could be turned down for a job and not even know why. Or even know your mugshot is on there. Mine could be on there lol. I have had one done.
 
I'm a little disappointed that the news story didn't have the mugshots of the four men who owned mugshots.com.

I just love irony.
 
What a dirty scam.

How much could they even have possibly made off of this?

Hope they actually get jail time.
 
Read about this a long time ago. Fucking garbage that it took this long to take them down. I suppose they ran outta bribery money.
 
Lowmanproblems said:
Seems like a shitty business practices. Surely employers could get in trouble if it was found out that they used the website as a form of background checking and made their decisions solely on that website.
Click to expand...
They wouldn't need to, there are plenty of websites offering that info. You have to pay (they don't get money from extorting people like this one did), but it's not too expensive.

The sad truth is if you get arrested or god forbid convicted on even the most petty crime that shit is never ever going away completely. Even if the record gets expunged. Chances are it'll come up every time you try to get a job or rent a place (if the employer/landlord does his due diligence).
 
That is some serious bullshit. They charged $399 to get one's info de-published. Who knows how much time and money these jackasses cost people? Considering the potential influence this site had on people's livelihoods, I wish they'd get something like 10 years, but It looks like that depends on the use of force. Unfortunately it seems like they'll only get 3 years.
 
Absolute scumbags, fuck em.
 
Yeah that is a scummy business to be in.
 
Look I'm not saying these guys arent assholes, but if the photos and criminal records/charges are public info, how are they doing anything ILLEGAL?

If they are just publishing the pictures and charges but not making any claim of guilt, how is that wrong? Just because you are cleared of the charges that doesnt make the public records of your arrest illegal to publish.

if I'm wrong on this by all means inform me
 
IloveTHIS said:
Look I'm not saying these guys arent assholes, but if the photos and criminal records/charges are public info, how are they doing anything ILLEGAL?

If they are just publishing the pictures and charges but not making any claim of guilt, how is that wrong? Just because you are cleared of the charges that doesnt make the public records of your arrest illegal to publish.

if I'm wrong on this by all means inform me
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Because they were extorting people. They didn't publish the site as a public service, they did it to make money from their "removal service", then would make another site that had another "removal service". The guy in the article said he charged $399 and ultimately had to pay $4,000.
 
nostradumbass said:
Because they were extorting people. They didn't publish the site as a public service, they did it to make money from their "removal service", then would make another site that had another "removal service". The guy in the article said he charged $399 and ultimately had to pay $4,000.
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ok, but how is it extortion. Those people dont have a gun to their head forcing them to cough up $400. The site is simply uploading matters of PUBLIC RECORD, but if you want it bad enough($400) they will take it down.

I dont know. I'm sure any minute now someone is going to get all emotional and rage at me for defending assholes. I just dont feel like we should be able to make a legal activity punishable, just because its scummy.

Imagine this. I'm recording out in public and happen to record a person do something extremely embarrassing, lets say pick their asshole. I upload itt because I think its fucking hilarious. That person finds the video, is embarrassed and reaches out to me asking to remove it. I say OK but only if I am compensated a bit, since technically there is zero legal reason for me to take it down. Is that against the law? I dont think so.
 
It is almost reprehensible enough for a larger RICO charge against anyone who was working there with knowledge of the extortion racket.

Really awful stuff.
 
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