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Surrey Creep Catcher prez LaForge still undeterred by privacy commissioner

Surrey Creep Catchers President says complainants, commission can ‘f—k themselves’
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Surrey Creep Catchers President Ryan LaForge. (Photo: Tom Zytaruk)

SURREY — Surrey Creep Catchers President Ryan LaForge is unlikely to acquiesce to a privacy commission order to pull some of his group’s controversial videos from the internet.

“I told them to go f—k themselves,” LaForge said in an online interview. “I said it before from the beginning and I’ll say it again, I will never destroy, I will never take down videos voluntarily. I will fight to the very, very end to keep all of those videos up.”

LaForge’s organization aims to weed out “potential predators” by posing as children online, arranging to meet adults who think they’ve been communicating with a child, confronting them, filming them and then posting the videos on Facebook.

Two people not named in the Office of the Information and Privacy Commission for British Columbia’s report complained that Surrey Creep Catchers “improperly collected, used and disclosed their personal information.”

Drew McArthur, acting information and privacy commissioner, decided “the complainants did not consent to the collection or use of their personal information that they conveyed in their online chats with the organization’s decoy.”

“I require the organization to stop collecting, using or disclosing” the complainants’ personal information, he ordered, as well as to “destroy all records of the online communication” the complainants “had with the organization’s decoy, both on its members electronic devices and in any hard copies.”

Creep Catchers has until Sept. 6th to confirm to his office this has been done, McArthur said.

READ ALSO: Creep Catcher Surrey president undettered by privacy complaint investigation

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READ ALSO: SURREY’S CREEP CATCHER: Ryan LaForge aims to weed out ‘potential predators’ and ‘blast’ them on social media

READ ALSO: Surrey Creep Catchers’ Ryan LaForge charged with assault, uttering threats

LaForge says that’s not happening.

“They think I’m going to pack up and run,” LaForge told the Now-Leader on Wednesday. “No, they’re not going down.”

When this matter first arose in February, LaForge said he was undeterred.

“No matter what, we’re not taking the videos down,” he said at that time. “That would defeat the whole purpose of what we’re doing.”

Jane Zatylny, a spokeswoman for the commission, said in February individuals who fail to comply with an order made by the commissioner under the Act could be hit with a fine under $10,000 and “other than an individual, to a fine of not more than $100,000.”

tom.zytaruk@ surreynowleader.com



About the Author: Tom Zytaruk

I write unvarnished opinion columns and unbiased news reports for the Surrey Now-Leader.
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