At Patronscan, our mission has always been simple: help create spaces where people feel safe enough to just enjoy their night. No stress, no looking over their shoulder, no wondering if someone in the room means them harm. Just good times with good people.
When we saw articles circulating this week suggesting our system uses facial recognition and collects biometric data on patrons, or that we sell patron data to third-party companies, we had to speak up because that’s simply not true, and the communities protected by our system deserve accurate information about the tools being used in their spaces.
Let’s clear a few things up:
- We do not use facial recognition or collect biometric data.
- We do not sell or share your personal information with any third-party company.
- We do not save or share your home address on our Flag Network.
What we do is scan a government-issued ID to confirm you are who you say you are, and that you’re old enough to be there. That’s it.
For clients using our Flag Network, the goal is to provide one thing that’s missing in a lot of social spaces these days: accountability. Bad behaviour doesn’t just disappear when someone gets kicked out, and they don’t get to walk into the bar across the road and start over. Any venue running our system will see that flag at the door and can turn them away before they ever get inside.
For venues like our clients in The Castro, this matters deeply. When someone brings hatred, prejudice, or harmful intent into an LGBTQ+ space and gets removed and flagged, our system makes sure they can’t just dust themselves off and walk into the next bar down the street. If they’ve been flagged at one Patronscan venue, other venues on our network will see that at the door. They don’t get a second chance to ruin someone else’s night.
Your data is yours. You can request deletion at any time, and if you haven’t been involved in an incident, it’s automatically deleted after typically 21 days anyway. If you’ve been flagged and believe it’s wrong, you can dispute it directly on our website. We’re fully compliant with CCPA and all applicable privacy legislation, and we take that responsibility seriously.
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.
If you have more questions, we’d love to answer them. Reach out any time at privacy@patronscan.com to get in touch with our Privacy team.
Identity verification technology raises fair questions about privacy, safety, and trust. Patronscan answers them directly, including a transparent account of the resolved Illinois BIPA lawsuit.
