New law forces websites to pull mug shots of the acquitted

Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill into law Friday that will require websites that publish mug shots to take them down upon request if the person pictured is not convicted.

The new law, which takes effect July 1, also prohibits companies from collecting a fee to remove the mug shots.

But Scott declined to sign into law the most controversial portion of the bill. It would automatically have sealed nearly 3 million public records of people who were arrested but not convicted.

That provision raised eyebrows with both public records advocates and Attorney General Pam Bondi, who said the public has a right to know if someone has been arrested but not convicted of a crime — particularly a sex offense.

Bondi last month raised questions about the legislation, saying it’s important in sex-offender cases to know if someone has been charged previously.

“We all know how difficult it is to convict a sex offender,” Bondi said.

Kylie Mason, a spokeswoman for Bondi’s office, said Friday that “it is our understanding that arrest records involving violent offenders and sexual predators will remain public, and if that is the case, we are pleased.”

Barbara Petersen, president of the First Amendment Foundation, said there are many reasons why a person can be found not guilty.

“It may not because they aren’t guilty,” she said. “Sometimes witnesses are reluctant to testify. Sometimes witnesses may die.”

Proponents of the bill say it would have allowed people to have applied for jobs or rent apartments without the burden of having a dropped criminal charge come up in a background check.

The sealed documents would have applied to Florida Department of Law Enforcement records. So if a prospective employer did a criminal background check, a dropped charge would not have shown up.

Proponents say the mug shot law is aimed at companies who keep photos of innocent people online forever, harming their reputation if someone does a Google search on them. To charge a fee to remove the photo is akin to a ransom, they said.

To remove mug shots, the new law will allow a person to write a website to request that the image be taken down, and the company will be required to do so within 10 days or face a daily $1,000 fine. The law allows for civil action, too.

Petersen said she’s not crazy about this provision, either because it does not specify whether media organizations, which also publish mug shots, are affected.

The Orlando Sentinel publishes mug shots in an online gallery and with news stories. The newspaper does not engage in the practice of removing mug shots or any other editorial content from its website in exchange for fees, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Avido Khahaifa said.

The law will not apply to companies that do not accept a fee to remove mug shots.

Petersen said she wishes Scott would have vetoed the entire bill.

“It would have been easier if the governor would have vetoed it and told the Legislature to start over,” she said. “There’s just too many questions.”

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