Google Cracking Down on Mug Shot Sites

Lowering them in results

Google gets a lot of well-deserved flack for invasions of its users' privacy. But the search giant recently put its sophisticated algorithms to work to in an effort to stop unscrupulous companies from posting people's mug shots and then offering to take them down – for a price.

Of course, if a mug shot is available, the person in the picture was arrested at some point. But posting mug shots that may have resulted from a false arrest or minor drug charge from the past is no joke. Prospective employers routinely Google applicants' histories. Arrestees' friends or people they're dating could also come across the mug shots. For some time, the mug shots appeared high up in Google's search results. (Dr. Janese Trimaldi is pictured below with a mug shot from a 2011 arrest.)