[spectre] Right2Remove.us VS MugShots.com with the Aesthetics of Information Ethics - Paolo Cirio PR

[Paolo Cirio]

*Right2Remove.us VS MugShots.com with the Aesthetics of Information Ethics*

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New York City, October 22, 2017.

*With the project Obscurity, artist Paolo Cirio challenges legal threats,
organizes a new privacy policy in U.S., and presents it in seven prominent
art institutions this fall.*

*https://paolocirio.net/work/obscurity
<https://paolocirio.net/work/obscurity> https://obscurity.online
<https://obscurity.online>*

Since April 2016, Cirio has been obfuscating millions of online criminal
records and mug-shots published in the United States. The *Obscurity*
project cloned major mug-shot websites and scrambled their data to
obfuscate the arrestees’ records:
https://youtube.com/watch?list=PLJHWosFmMRqofm03UvU8_0tLKopTXKOra&v=im4bqkGbEkI

The project *generated responses from hundreds of individuals* personally
affected by public criminal records. They ask the artist for help and tell
their stories of stigmatization, extortion, and harassment caused by
unregulated mug-shot websites*. *Here is a selection of messages
illustrating the performance’s reactions:
https://paolocirio.net/work/obscurity/Obscurity-selection-messages_web.pdf

Meanwhile, MugShots.com sent an *aggressive legal threat to Paolo Cirio*
requesting an immediate cease and desist of the project, causing the shut
down of the artist’s website:
https://paolocirio.net/work/obscurity/Obscurity-Mugshots.com-VS-Cirio.pdf

MugShots.com monetizes by exposing embarrassing booking photos on search
engines and asking excessive fees for their removal, even if arrestees are
cleared of charges. Finally, a few weeks ago, *a class-action was initiated
against MugShots.com*

Paolo Cirio responds by pushing forward the *Right to Remove Internet
privacy policy to adapt and improve the Right To Be Forgotten in the United
States: https://Right2Remove.us <https://Right2Remove.us>*
As a form of socially engaged Internet art, the project offers services
aimed to build empathy and community by providing practical tools for the
affected individuals and organizing for change.

Moreover, Paolo Cirio takes* the risk of republishing the websites
Mug-Shots.us* and *BustedMugShots.us*, which were the subjects of legal
threats. His renewed attack against the mug-shot sites will continue for a
few weeks to reinforce the need of more effective instruments against them.

With the *Obscurity* and *Right to Remove* projects, Paolo Cirio recently
received *a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts* through the art
institution ISCP. *Art installations of the Obscurity artwork are both on
display at MIT Museum in Boston from October 19 and ISCP in NYC from
October 24*, along with ongoing and future international exhibitions.

This ultimate project inspired Paolo Cirio to reflect on the* Aesthetics of
Information Ethics* with an essay that condenses his practice with broader
ethical issues that society faces today:
https://paolocirio.net/press/texts/aesthetics-information-ethics.php

Cirio will address the *Aesthetics of Information Ethics *with a solo
lecture at the *Berkeley Art Museum for UC Berkeley* on October 23 and
at *MozFest
with a workshop commissioned by the learning departments of both Victoria &
Albert and Tate museums in London *on October 27. A public discussion with
Julia Powles, renowned expert on Right To Be Forgotten, will be at ISCP in
NYC on December 19.

*The timeline of the dispute:*

On March 29, 2017, MugShots.com sent a *legal notice* of potential lawsuits
both in UK and US against the artist Paolo Cirio, accusing him of false
advertising and infringement of intellectual property. The law firm signing
the letter represents the unnamed owner of MugShots.com, a company in the
offshore jurisdiction of Nevis in the Caribbean.

On September 26, 2017, a federal judge in Chicago ruled on a lawsuit by
several arrestees suing MugShots.com and *a novel class-action against it
was approved:*
https://courthousenews.com/mugshot-website-must-face-publicity-rights-class-action/
Two recent articles about MugShots.com on the Chicago Tribune and the New
York Times reported the filing of this lawsuit:
https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-mug-shot-websites-0312-biz-20170310-story.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/03/opinion/sunday/innocent-until-your-mug-shot-is-on-the-internet.html
Although the compelling articles address the personal consequences of the
mug-shot publishing industry, they both fail to mention the accountability
of search engines, and how the issue won’t be resolved till broader
Internet privacy rights become available to American citizens.

MugShots.com remains up and running, despite having licenses revoked in
Florida, Wyoming, and a lack of good standing in Delaware. Currently, there
are only a few states that have passed measures to restrict for-profit
publishing of arrest photos. For instance, in Arizona and Texas - two
states with the highest rate of incarceration in the world - the charging
for removal of online mug-shots is still legal. Nevertheless, the mug-shot
websites are still multiplying (see a list the artist compiled) and
propagating on social media; posting mug-shots on Facebook is not
considered a violation of its community standard.

On October 20th, 2017, Paolo Cirio republish the website Mug-Shots.us for a
few weeks to oppose the legal threats he received and to push forward his
campaign Right2Remove.us

In January 2018 Paolo Cirio will terminate all of his obfuscated mug-shot
websites and will focus on the campaign Right2Remove.us

* The locations of the dispute: *

MugShots.com’s purported operator is registered in Belize and has a
business allegedly based in Nevis, in the West Indies; however, it operates
out of Florida as a foreign business without legal authorization.

Paolo Cirio is an Italian citizen based in New York City operating as
business registered in the City of London in UK. The dataset with over 15
millions criminal records is hosted on an undisclosed server and the
disputed domain names are registered in Netherlands on Greenhost.nl, an ISP
committed to supporting Internet activists.

*Google.com, Yahoo.com, Bing.com* are American companies with main
headquarters in California. They are the gatekeepers to public information
on the Internet in the United States. Their claims of being committed to
users’ privacy are deceptive and unfair.

The Federal Trade Commission is a governmental agency in Washington DC
which should be in charge of regulating search engines companies
nation-wide.

*The locations and history of presentations of the Obscurity artwork:*

*Concrete Truth*, exhibition at International Studio & Curatorial Program,
2017, NYC - U.S.
*Mirror Mirror*, exhibition at Robeson Galleries, Rutgers University, 2018,
Newark - U.S.
*Aesthetics of Information Ethics*, lecture at UC Berkeley, 2017, Berkeley
- U.S.
*Socially Engaged Internet Art*, lecture at Gallery 400 for UIC, Chicago -
U.S.
*Obfuscation workshop*, lecture at NYU School of Law, 2017, NYC - U.S.
*Right to Re-*, exhibition at UC Santa Cruz, 2017, Santa Cruz - U.S.
*Big Bang Data*, exhibition at MIT Museum, 2017, Boston - U.S.
*Big Bang Data*, exhibition at DOX Centre for Contemporary Art, 2017,
Prague - Czech Republic
*Month of Photography*, exhibition at Museum National d'Histoire et d'Art,
2017, Luxembourg
*FaceTunes*, exhibition at Bielefelder Kunstverein, 2017, Bielefeld -
Germany
*Mozilla Festival*, exhibition at Ravensbourne College, 2017, London - UK
*Out of Control*, exhibition at Ars Electronica Center Museum, 2016, Linz -
Austria
*Big Brother Award*, exhibition at Stadsschouwburg, 2016, Amsterdam -
Netherlands
*Private and Public*, exhibition at NOME gallery at 515, 2016, Turin - Italy
*Private*, exhibition at NOME gallery at 208 Bowery, 2016, NYC - U.S.
*Traffic Cam meets Art Basel*, lecture at NYU for Art Law Society, 2016,
NYC - U.S.


*Thank you for your attention. Paolo Cirio Studio.*

Web: https://PaoloCirio.net

FL: https://flickr.com/paolocirio
TW: https://twitter.com/paolocirio
LI: https://linkedin.com/in/paolocirio
YT: https://youtube.com/c/paolocirio
FB: https://facebook.com/paolo.cirio.art
IG: https://instagram.com/paolo.cirio.art
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