The
mug shot publishing industry is a
niche market of
tabloid journalism emerging in the United States. The industry consists of private companies that publish
mug shots and booking details of individuals arrested by
law enforcement agencies. These companies publish the
arrest information in
tabloids and through websites. More than 60 new mug shot websites were created in the two-year period ending March 2013. The related mugshot removal services, at least one of which calls itself part of the
reputation management industry, profit when individuals pay a fee to have their mugshot removed from one or more websites. The two types of business are sometimes operated by the same company resulting in a combination
business model which Kashmir Hill, writing for
Forbes calls the "embarrassment
extortion industry," and David Kravets, writing for
Wired refers to as a
racket. Some legal experts say that while it is "close to extortion," it is a legal business model.