{"slug": "2-san-francisco-bars-pause-use-of-id-technology-after-community-pushback", "title": "2 San Francisco bars pause use of ID technology after community pushback", "summary": "Two San Francisco gay bars, Badlands and Toad Hall in the Castro neighborhood, paused use of Patronscan Guard+, an AI-assisted ID verification technology, after community pushback over privacy concerns. The bars' director of operations, Brian Aranda, announced the pause on Friday, stating they are reviewing their ID verification and security practices while continuing manual ID checks. Advocacy group Fight for the Future, which called for a boycott, welcomed the decision, while Servall Data Systems, the maker of Patronscan, said the technology does not use facial recognition or collect biometric data.", "body_md": "**Getting your**\n\n[Trinity Audio](//trinityaudio.ai)player ready...By Eric Urbach, Bay City News\n\nOver the weekend, two popular gay bars in San Francisco halted the use of ID verification technology after pushback.\n\nBadlands and Toad Hall, both in the Castro neighborhood, opted to pause using Patronscan Guard+, an AI-assisted identification reader, after community concerns were raised.\n\nPatronscan is a scanning technology that can identify fake identification cards at a forensic level through comparisons with known fake templates as well as with government-provided security measures. Servall Data Systems, the makers of Patronscan, also offers a flagging service that can help bars and venues alert their employees of problematic customers and share that information with other establishments that utilize this technology.\n\nOpponents are concerned that it is data collection of vulnerable populations and yet another form of tech surveillance in the age of license plate readers and even facial scanning AI.\n\nFight for the Future, an advocacy organization that has been working to prevent AI surveillance technology from being utilized in music venues and bars around the country, called for a boycott of bars in San Francisco that use Patronscan.\n\n“We have heard the concerns regarding the use of Patronscan at Badlands and Toad Hall in San Francisco, and we are listening,” said Brian Aranda, director of operations at both bars, in a statement released on Friday. “Effective immediately, we are pausing the use of Patronscan while we review our ID verification and security practices. The safety of our guests and staff remains a priority, as do privacy and trust. Our security teams will continue to thoroughly check IDs manually during this time.”\n\nEvan Greer, director of Fight for the Future, said that the organization has been working on campaigns to resist AI surveillance since 2019, with a focus on nightclubs and music venues.\n\nOnce they learned that several gay bars in San Francisco had adopted the Patronscan technology, their organization set up a boycott petition, both to call for patrons to avoid clubs and bars that use this technology, and to get other bars to state they would never adopt this type of tech at their establishments.\n\nGreer added that the organization’s goal is to slow down the adoption of these technologies while lobbying governments to issue ordinances banning their use.\n\nRhiannon Mosoronchon, vice president of people and operations for Servall Data Systems, said that the company was aware of the community concerns and the pause in use at Badlands and Toad Hall and said they respected the decision to complete a review as they work through their security practices.\n\nMosoronchon said that while Patronscan does capture a live photo of individuals, it does not utilize facial recognition technology, collect biometric data or use AI in its assessments. While it does store the live photo of patrons on the businesses’ system, those photos cannot be shared, and they are deleted after 21 days in California, in alignment with state law.\n\nMosoronchon added that patrons at any time can contact the company through their website to request a copy of the data collected and ask for its deletion if they have concerns.\n\nCopyright © 2026 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/2-san-francisco-bars-pause-use-of-id-technology-after-community-pushback", "canonical_source": "https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/08/11/san-francisco-bars-identification-technology/", "published_at": "2026-08-11 16:47:07+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-11 17:17:09.991622+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-ethics", "ai-policy"], "entities": ["Badlands", "Toad Hall", "Patronscan Guard+", "Servall Data Systems", "Fight for the Future", "Brian Aranda", "Evan Greer", "Rhiannon Mosoronchon"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/2-san-francisco-bars-pause-use-of-id-technology-after-community-pushback", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/2-san-francisco-bars-pause-use-of-id-technology-after-community-pushback.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/2-san-francisco-bars-pause-use-of-id-technology-after-community-pushback.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/2-san-francisco-bars-pause-use-of-id-technology-after-community-pushback.jsonld"}}