A national digital privacy group has issued a safety advisory ahead of Pride weekend, warning patrons about ID-scanning kiosks used at several popular nightclubs in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood. The devices, manufactured by the Canadian company Patronscan, require door staff to scan a cu stomer’s ID and take a digital photograph before allowing entry. The kiosks are currently in use at Badlands, Toad Hall, and The Mix. While advocates argue the technology poses a significant risk to the LGBTQIA+ community by unnecessarily tracking personal data, bar management insists the scanners are vital tools to keep patrons and staff safe following a violent attack last year. Fight for the Future, a digital rights advocacy group, issued the advisory specifically naming the three Castro bars and urging Pride weekend attendees to make informed choices about where they celebrate. “It’s really not a safe time to start making databases of queer people that could be accessed by the Trump administration, by a private company, by a bad actor,” said Evan Greer with Fight for the Future. Greer noted that similar privacy concerns surrounding Patronscan have been raised at other major venues, including Madison Square Garden in New York. Eric Norman, a frequent patron of The Mix, said his initial annoyance with the scanning process evolved into genuine concern as he learned more about the technology and its potential implications. “This is way more than just verifying my ID,” Norman said. “The more I learned, it went from me being annoyed to an actual concern, and feeling like we shouldn’t have this technology in use.”Safety Measures and Company Response Despite the pushback, the general manager of The Mix, identified only as Nick, vigorously defended the technology. He said the club installed the system after a customer followed an employee after their shift and brutally attacked them near the Castro Theatre last April. “It keeps my customers safe. We’ve had no bar fights, vandalism and theft is down,” the manager said. He added that the bar would drop the product immediately if it found out the company was sharing data with a third party. In a detailed statement and blog post, a Patronscan spokesperson pushed back against the privacy claims, stating their system does not use facial recognition or collect biometric data. Furthermore, the company stated that to comply with state law, it deletes all ID and photo data in California after 21 days. While the debate over the technology’s place in the Castro continues, patrons like Norman are calling for open dialogue with business owners and city government rather than organizing protests. “I would never encourage anyone to not go into a bar,” Norman said. “I would encourage people to politely articulate, ‘I have a problem with this software.'” ...read more read less