David Kravets, at Wired: "An Ohio man who found his police booking photo on several privately run mugshot websites is suing those sites under a novel legal theory: that the mugshot publishing industry is violating his right of publicity". Here's more at NPR. [Thanks, Jemma Hostetler]

Lately: "Potential Prostitutes" site lets users label women as prostitutes, charges "removal" fees

  • Boundegar

    Because even the pretense of privacy is completely obsolete?

  • SomeGuyNamedMark

    “Phil Kaplan, a 34-year-old freelance graphic artist charged in 2011 for failure to disperse from a party a few doors from his Toledo residence, said his mug appeared on bustedmugshots.com and mugshotsonline, which he said charge hundreds to get a photo removed. He refused to pay.”

    Maybe “blackmail.com” would be a better name.

  • hugh crawford

    You don’t need a photo release to use someone’s photo for journalism or art.
    You do need a photo release to use someone’s photo for trade or advertising.This is pretty obviously the latter not the former.

  • Promethean Sky

    The sheer number of sleazy outfits online continues to shock me. This is despite the fact that I already find most of the human race utterly despicable.