Two websites that make money by posting mug shots of people who've been arrested have agreed to stop charging them to take down their photos, as part of a settlement in a federal lawsuit.
The lawsuit came about after a number of complaints from people who said the sites were charging hundreds of dollars to remove the mug shots, even if the cases against those arrested had been dropped.
The settlement in US District Court in Toledo doesn't apply to all of the mug shot sites that can be found online, just two - BustedMugshots.com and MugshotsOnline.com.
Similar lawsuits have been filed in Florida, Illinois, and Pennsylvania while legislators in Georgia and Utah have passed laws aimed at stopping the sites from charging to remove arrest photos. California is considering a similar proposal.
But efforts to rein in the sites have been complicated by questions about whether the attempts infringe on First Amendment rights and the difficulty of tracking down who owns the sites, some of which claim to originate from outside the country.
Some operators say they're performing a public service by providing information about arrest records that can be found by parents and neighbours without searching through court records.
Lawyer Scott Ciolek, who filed the lawsuit in Ohio, says charging a fee to remove the mug shots amounts to extortion. Eliminating that part of the business model will make it difficult for them to operate, he said.
"That is the biggest victory right there," he said on Tuesday. "We've taken away their ability to profit."
The settlement, finalised in late December, also calls for the owner of the two sites to pay $US7,500 ($A8,430) and take down the photos of the three people who brought the lawsuit in Ohio.
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