Public Records
Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)
18 USC § 1030 - Fraud and related activity in connection with computers
(2) intentionally accesses a computer without authorization or exceeds authorized access, and thereby obtains—
(C) information from any protected computer;
18 USC § 641 - Public money, property or records
Whoever embezzles, steals, purloins, or knowingly
converts to his use or the use of another, or without authority, sells,
conveys or disposes of any record, voucher, money, or thing of value of
the United States or of any department or agency thereof, or any property made
or being made under contract for the United States or any department or agency
thereof;
Whoever receives, conceals, or retains the same with intent to
convert it to his use or gain, knowing it to have been embezzled, stolen,
purloined or converted—
Craig Wiggen: "Wiggen said he wrote screen-scraping software to perform searches on 37 of the counties, crawling to get arrests stretching back years, and continuously polling the sites for new busts, which he scarfs down at a rate of 1,500 a day."
Kravets, David. "Mug-Shot Industry Will Dig Up Your Past, Charge You to Bury It
Again." Wired
August 2011.
Kyle Ritter: "Fairly simple mechanics power pdxmugshots: An algorithm scrapes the photos from law enforcement websites, including the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office, which oversees the jail."
Corey, Paul. "Mug Shot Profiteers
Been arrested? This website puts up your photo and sees profit in your shame. Others see extortion." Willamette Week
August 2011.
Kyle Ritter: "Businesses such as BoiseMugshots.com, Mugshots.com and arrestcentral.com scrape — or automatically grab information from — websites like Ada County’s arrest log, post the photos on their sites and then link to other Web businesses that charge $99 and more for removal."
Orr, Patrick. "Mug shot websites make money on ‘embarrassment." Idaho Statesman February 2012.
Kyle Ritter: "For someone to scrape our site would be no different than you investigating a story, collecting and structuring the information, only to have a rival change a few adjectives and publish it themselves without going to through the same process you did.”
Kyle Ritter: "No comment on how many different towns we have websites for – gotta keep the lazier scrapers at bay, ya know?" "We don't run any of the mega hub sites (mugshots.com, arrestcentral.com. etc), though many people think we are behind them."
Orr, Patrick. "Read the entire Q&A between'Mughost Barry at boisemugshots.com and Idaho Statesman reporter
Patrick Orr." The Olympian
February 2012.
Kyle Ritter: "Pdxmugshots.com and affiliated sites claim that There are two of us. They guy typing this is named Barry [sic]. Responses to complaints about the site filed with the Oregon Department of Justice were also signed Barry. "
Corey, Paul. "Extortion Mug Shot Site Operator Identifies Himself: Kyle Ritter, Who Also Runs Pdxbars.com" Willamette Week
August 2011.
Boone County Sheriff's: "We get a lot of requests for photos of the individuals that have been arrested, so it seemed a matter of efficiency to make it available via the website so that can folks can have quick access of them, he said." "It also helps us out in reducing the number of incoming calls that we have to deal with."
"Discouraging crime was not a factor in putting mugshots on the website, Reddin said."
"People are going to behave how they're going to behave whether their picture is going to be published or not, he said."
Kass, Dani. "New sheriff's software makes mugshots available to public via Internet." The Maneater
February 2011.
Tyrone Jacques Spencer on Sheriff's: "Tyronne Jacques, owner of RemoveSlander.com and author of How to Fight Google and Win, published in 2010 with Raegan Publishing, said sheriff's departments could put a stop to these businesses if they banned people from republishing the information for a profit."
Susanna, Kim "Businesses Charge Hundreds To Remove Mug Shots Online."
abc NEWS April 2012.
Alabama
"Can i obtain the criminal history of another person through ACJIC?"
"No. ACJIC may only provide criminal histories to: (1) law enforcement entities for approved criminal justice purposes or (2) individuals requesting their own criminal history."
"WARNING: PENALTY FOR MISUSE
Any person who willingly requests, obtains, or seeks to
obtain criminal offender record information under false pretenses is subject to felony criminal penalties."
Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center. Retrieved
from
http://acjic.state.al.us/citizens.cfm#q4
Arizona
"How do I get a criminal record check on someone else?
Only authorized individuals, /agencies, or /companies can obtain criminal record information on another person."
Arizona Department of Public Safety. Retrieved
from
http://www.azdps.gov/Services/Records/Criminal_History_Records/Questions/#10