Several bars in the Castro district have paused or limited use of PatronScan, a digital identity verification system including a scanner and camera.<\/p>\n
‘The Mix’ will no longer use PatronScan cameras, but will continue using scanners for age and identity verification, according to workers.<\/p>\n
On Aug. 7, Badlands and Toad Hall announced it would pause its use of PatronScan and would check IDs manually.<\/p>\n
“We have heard the concerns regarding the use of PatronScan at Badlands and Toad Hall in San Francisco, and we are listening,” a social media post by Badlands stated on August 7. “We appreciate everyone who has shared their concern and remain committed to providing a safe and welcoming environment for all.”<\/p>\n
PatronScan has stated repeatedly it does not use facial recognition, does not collect biometric and does not share or sell personal information to third parties.<\/p>\n
“Our venues in The Castro represent a community that has fought hard for the right to exist freely and joyfully. We want to help protect that. That’s why we’re here,” PatronScan stated on its website.<\/p>\n
Founded in 2005, the Canadian-based company states it has processed more than 500 million scans and caught over 10,893,142 fake ID’s across Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.<\/p>\n
On June 25, digital rights group ‘Fight for the Future’<\/a> announced a boycott campaign against The Mix, Badlands, and Toad Hall.<\/p>\n On Monday, Castro bar patron Tez Anderson said he has not gone to any bars where PatronScan is active.<\/p>\n “Maybe I sound like a paranoid fool, but I just don’t trust why [any] bar needs that kind-of security when nobody else in the city ever needed that,” he said.<\/p>\n At ‘The Mix’ on Monday, regular Siobhan Boland said she has had no issues using PatronScan.<\/p>\n “Once I got a better understanding about what it’s meant to accomplish and how it takes care of a community, I was 100% behind it,” Boland said. “I think the regulars who are here, who I would like to think sustain the business fairly well, are people who understand its function and that it’s for everyone’s good.”<\/p>\n Secure Justice, a Bay Area privacy rights group, joined the campaign led by Fight for the Future. The group was also part of the 2019 effort to ban facial recognition<\/a> use by San Francisco law enforcement.<\/p>\n “The need for this particular technology to solve this perceived problem, it just never really smelled right. To me, it just seemed more like a data-harvesting program, which is what a lot of surveillance technology really is. They’re just trying to monetize data and sell it for a different purpose,” Brian Hofer, the executive director of Secure Justice, said.<\/p>\n