Owners of Mugshots.com arrested, own mugshots spreading online
The people behind the website Mugshots.com have been charged with extortion, and in an ironic twist of fate, now have their own mugshots spreading on the Internet.
There are plenty of sites that collect personal information on people such as their names, addresses and ages. However Mugshots.com collects and publishes the often darkest and most humiliating moments in people’s lives. We won’t keep you in suspense – yes – obviously it’s their police mugshot.
And while there are many criminals out there who undoubtedly deserve having their “mug” imprinted on the Internet along with details of their crimes, a big problem that arises with a site that publishes mugshots is that having your mugshot taken doesn’t mean you were actually convicted of a crime.
In fact, it doesn’t even mean you went to court. A mugshot is representative of a mere accusation of guilt, no matter how temporary. And this means that many innocent people have had their mugshot taken, and consequently ended up on Mugshots.com. And no, the site did not make it clear whether a person was ultimately charged with a crime or not.
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In a world that’s increasingly reliant on Internet checks, this could make tasks such as getting a job, a date or even just making friends that much harder.
And if you’re wondering how the extortion charges faced by the operators of Mugshots.com fits in, it’s because they were charging those who featured on the site $399+ to be removed, regardless of their innocence, via a sister site UnpublishArrest.com.
According to reports, the operators of the website made over $2 million in profit charging people to have their information scrubbed from the website.
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California’s Attorney General Xavier Becerra wrote, “this pay-for-removal scheme attempts to profit off of someone else’s humiliation.”
An affidavit obtained by Ars Technica accuses Sahar Sarid, Thomas Keesee, Kishore Vidya Bhavnanie and David Usdan, of operating the website and charges them with extortion. Not only that, but the charges of money laundering and identity theft were also thrown in.
All four operating the site had their own mugshots taken, and at least two are extremely easy to locate through an online search. It appears the Internet has its own sense of irony in this case.
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