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Mug-Shot Industry Digs Up Your Past, Charges You To Bury It
An anonymous reader writes "Exploiting Florida's liberal public-records laws and Google's search algorithms, a handful of entrepreneurs are making real money by publicly shaming people who've run afoul of Florida law. Florida.arrests.org, the biggest player, now hosts more than 4 million mugs. On the other side of the equation are firms like RemoveSlander, RemoveArrest.com and others that sometimes charge hundreds of dollars to get a mugshot removed. On the surface, the mug-shot sites and the reputation firms are mortal enemies. But behind the scenes, they have a symbiotic relationship that wrings cash out of the people exposed."
Better still only show the mugshots of those who actually are convicted. Arrests are not convictions. Innocent until proven guilty.
I'm not going to rely on these sites for a background check. If someone's not on there it doesn't mean they didn't do anything. It just means they paid to have them removed.
So why pay to remove myself?
If you are arrested but not convicted, why should that be a matter of public record at all? People get arrested and then released without charge all the time. Why should this continue to haunt them?
Just because a police officer decided to arrest you that doesn't make you a criminal. Does it?
Confused...
In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
When earthquakes happen, most people don't die, either, however it's not a good reason against earthquake-proofing buildings.
Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.