California Mugshot Removal

From PCSAR

California has taken a pretty aggressive stance against mugshot removal service removal online websites. The California attorney general Becerra has indicted four men in association with running Mugshots.com and UnpublishArrests. The charges include money laundering, extortion and identity theft. The California DA identified it as an organization permeated with fraud, Removemymugshot.org with the site owners organizing businesses in the West Indies, registering their domain in Belize and hosting their website in Australia.

The four men were extradited to California to face their criminal charges. They also face sustained litigation in Illinois. The case is pending in the Northern District of Illinois.

The California law was enacted in August 2015. Senate Bill 1027 took effect on January 1, 2015 and prohibits online sites from putting up arrest photos then asking a fee to take them all the way down. It’s against the law to allow money to correct or modify them as well. There are no regulations on the accessibility to the arrest reports by news organizations and interested individuals. There are fines for disobeying the California statute but unfortuitously it does nothing to people that wish to reprint the information internet.