Photographer avoids criminal record after posting pictures of victims with no consent

[Tennis]

An amateur photographer was spared a criminal record after posting revealing photos of women he knows and contact information about them on the Internet without their consent.

Ren Bostelaar, a former photography store worker, agreed to a one-year peace bond on Wednesday in Old City hall court that limits his Internet privileges and blocks him from contacting complainants in his case without their consent.

Bostelaar didn’t comment to the court or the press on Wednesday, leaving that to his lawyer, Sam Goldstein.

Goldstein said that his “happily married” client, who has young children, feels deep shame because of the case.

“We underestimate shame as a very powerful force... in the criminal justice system,” Goldstein said outside the courtroom.

Goldstein noted that Bostelaar, who ran the blog Bike Rack TO, was never criminally charged in the case.

“This is clearly inappropriate behaviour but the larger lesson we should all be taking from this... is what you post on the Internet is not private,” Goldstein said.

Two of Bostelaar’s female victims told the Star they weren’t impressed by the peace bond conditions or Goldstein’s comments.

“I think he’s getting off very easy,” said one of the women, who said she has moved from Toronto to avoid bumping into Bostelaar on the street.

“I’m very dissatisfied with the over-all outcome,” said the woman in a telephone interview. She said Bostelaar should have had to pay to have their images removed from the Internet.

She said she was told it would cost $3,000 to have her images professionally removed, and there was no guarantee they wouldn’t be reposted.

She said that Bostelaar should also have been compelled to give the names of all of the women he has victimized, so that they can try to clean their images from the Internet.

Another victim fought back tears outside the courtroom.

“It should never be a woman’s fault... to send a picture to someone you trust,” she said outside the court.

“There are people who need to have the internet taken away from them,” she said.

“The consequences he’s getting don’t match up to what we’ve been through.”

There is a court-imposed publication ban on publication of the victims’ identities, without their consent.

The two women who spoke with The Star chose not to be identified.

Assistant Crown attorney Lisa Henderson told court the publication ban on the women’s names is necessary to prevent further harm to them.

“It does have a significant impact on these women and their ability to go about their lives,” Henderson said.

The victim who attended court said she’s still getting counselling as a result of his actions.

“It’s been scary,” she said. “To know that it was someone I trusted has screwed up my ability to trust other men,” she said.

She said she has had to take time off work because of Bostelaar’s actions.

She said it didn’t really matter that Bostelaar didn’t speak up and apologize to her in court.

He did earlier apologize to the women on Facebook, writing: “It has come to light that I’ve been engaging in a reprehensibly bad behaviour (sic) and I would like to make a public apology and take responsibility for my actions.”

Bostelaar issued his apology on Facebook after he was confronted by at least one of the women involved.

“It feels to me that he’s sorry he got caught and he’s not sorry for what he did,” said the victim who attended his court appearance.

Conditions of his peace bond include an agreement to notify police of any changes in his occupation, employment or address.

He’s not allowed to communicate with any of the complainants in the case or come within 100 metres of them, without their consent.

He’s required to give police all of his online names and addresses. He’s required to delete any revealing images he has of complainants and he can’t make any further revealing images without notifying them of the reasons for his peace bond.

He’s also barred from a number of websites, including Reddit and 4chan.

He must also continue counselling.

The peace bond is in effect for 12 months and includes a $1,000 surety.

Goldstein said that the case has cost his client his job at a photography store and a chance to write a book on Stats Canada, an online parody account.

The Star earlier spoke with seven women, who all said they know Bostelaar personally and said their photos and contact information were unknowingly shared without their consent.

One of those women told The Star on Wednesday after the court hearing that she has spent hours trying to pull her images from the Internet and still isn’t satisfied they have been removed.

“Our images are still out there,” she said.

Bostelaar’s actions are what’s known as “doxing” or “doxxing” ― which is the collecting of otherwise private or hard-to-find information, like names, phone numbers, and addresses concerning an online target.

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/201...t-consent.html

Yikes. This is disturbing. If other villains think they can go basically scott free after such actions, it could encourage more behaviour like this. We need to be sending a message, not going easy.

[primalmatter]

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/201...t-consent.html

Yikes. This is disturbing. If other villains think they can go basically scott free after such actions, it could encourage more behaviour like this. We need to be sending a message, not going easy.

What would you suggest? I don't agree with what he did but the punishment seems fitting of the crime.

[Tennis]

What would you suggest? I don't agree with what he did but the punishment seems fitting of the crime.

These revealing photos will be on the internet forever. They really will affect the victims moving forward. A peace bond is really a slap on the wrist with this in mind.

[primalmatter]

These revealing photos will be on the internet forever. They really will affect the victims moving forward. A peace bond is really a slap on the risk with this in mind.

Effect them in what way exactly?

[Henako]

Effect them in what way exactly?

I, too, am excited to hear how.

[Flatspriest]

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/201...t-consent.html

Yikes. This is disturbing. If other villains think they can go basically scott free after such actions, it could encourage more behaviour like this. We need to be sending a message, not going easy.

I would say take it up with the judiciary in your area then as to making laws that would more criminalize actions such as those of the "photographer". In most parts of the US, he would have been put in jail and forced to pay for the removal of the photos.

[Deleted]

These revealing photos will be on the internet forever. They really will affect the victims moving forward. A peace bond is really a slap on the risk with this in mind.

I hate slapping those risks!
Illiterate dick.

Infracted

[medievalman1]

These revealing photos will be on the internet forever. They really will affect the victims moving forward. A peace bond is really a slap on the wrist with this in mind.

So, again, what would you suggest?

[Stop Pretending]

So, again, what would you suggest?

Banishment from the internet, forever!!!

[LongTimeCreeper]

Avoids criminal record after not being criminally charged...

What's the story here?

[SoulForge]

This whole story is stupid.

It is her fault for sending him the picture. Never trust someone with that kind of power. You can show him them, but you keep them private.

You can't just take the internet away from someone. Its not some hand held device that you can just take. You don't need a logon to get online.

And $3000 to have them professionally removed? Really? Never happening. Not enough money to make that happen.

[Deleted]

I bet OP is masterbating to said pictures

Post constructively

[Jonnusthegreat]

LOL "It should never be a woman’s fault... to send a picture to someone you trust."

Yes. Yes it should.

[Raldazzar]

play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

if you send somebody a photo and they misuse it.. it's on you for sending it. take some damn responsibility.. if you aren't 100% sure they are chill to send to? then maybe don't send them.

[Rustedsaint]

I'll never understand why some people would choose to send a picture to someone you never met in person, call it victim blaming if you will, this is just so stupid. I barely even revel my first name to the people I meet online.

[Deckon]

Was it a shit thing to do? Yes
Once you send someone a photo on the internet, you have ZERO control with what they do with it. Assume the worst, and don't send anything, that if exposed, would embarrass you. If you send a compromising picture to someone, and they post it, yes it's a betrayal of trust, but not illegal. You GAVE it to them, what they do with it after they receive it is up to them.

This is internet 101, people.

For the record, they dude is a total douche for doing this, but he didn't commit a crime. Would I do something like this? Hell no. But I also know actions have consequences, and I would never put myself on either side of this situation.

Yeah I'm victim blaming, but in this situation, if the victim never sent compromising photo's this wouldn't have happened.

[Torto]

Women need to show more constraint about sending images of themselves to other people, or shit like this can happen. Yes the guy is a dick, but she left herself open to the risk.

[Shibito]

Do anyone even use words like yikes anymore? Also people are scumbags nothing new there.

[Tennis]

Do anyone even use words like yikes anymore? Also people are scumbags nothing new there.

Yeah because using words like bae is so much better. If only I used such words in my posts and real life eh?

[Kapadons]

Yet another thread proving Canadian courts are soft on perverts. How many of these are you gonna post Tenn?

What is god-king Trublow doing to rectify this obvious stain on Canadian society?