Jeff Camden

Bar owner Paul Vickers says BarLink’s ID-scanning system serves as an ‘obstacle to the perpetrators who would cause trouble’

Brad, the operator and part-owner of BarLink, doesn’t want his last name to appear in this story. His demand for privacy is ironic, considering the company he helped found. BarLink’s equipment and software have scanned roughly two million IDs, gathering copious personal information from bar patrons across North America, including pictures, addresses, signatures, driver’s licence numbers, and, of course, full names.

BarLink was established seven years ago in Edmonton after police, business owners and West Edmonton Mall merchants approached Brad about creating a software security program for bars. Brad had worked in bar security for a number of years and knew many local cops, he says.

That BarLink verifies a customer’s age and identity is not extraordinary. It’s the company’s storage of this information that is contentious. Unlike a bouncer checking for birthdates and pictures, this system saves the information for up to three years. And if someone gets too rowdy, the bar manager can use BarLink to flag that person. The flag tells other BarLink clients which bar they are banned from, why and for how long.

A recent complaint to Alberta Privacy Commissioner Frank Work regarding an incident at a Calgary bar prompted Work to look into the legality of scanning IDs at bars. His decision is expected in mid-January. Although Work can’t comment on an ongoing investigation, his decision is expected to address concerns about how long information can be held, who has access to it, and under what circumstances the police can access the database.

Brad says his company complies with the Alberta Personal Information and Protection Act, and that he’s consistently in contact with the government about privacy issues. “At the end of the day,” he says, “we are just here to provide a security tool for bars and nightclubs.” He says BarLink has assisted in numerous court cases, including crimes from misdemeanours to murder. “We’ve provided information to put suspects at locations where homicides have happened and so forth that way, but it’s not a regular occurrence,” he says. “It’s when something severe happens. And they have to go though all the right channels. I’ll generally wait for a subpoena.”

SURVEILLANCE SOCIETY

Ian Kerr says collecting personal information from law-abiding citizens to prepare for possible future illegal incidents represents a shift away from Canada’s traditional liberal democratic principles, which hold that people should not be monitored until their behaviour justifies it. “When it comes to a bar, the purpose of looking at your ID is for age verification,” says Kerr, the Canada research chair in ethics, law and technology at the University of Ottawa. “Any collection and retention of that information so that it can be used in other ways is excessive.”

Stephen Jenuth, president of the Alberta Civil Liberties Association, agrees. He’s highly skeptical of any company that collects personal information. In a world where consumer loyalty cards track people’s purchases and security cameras increasingly monitor city streets, he’s concerned that various databases could be merged, giving owners of the information the chance to build very specific profiles of individuals.

“In the old days,” says Jenuth, “people used to make jokes about [how] police or intelligence people would find out about people [by stealing] their garbage. But now we get it before it’s garbage…. This fundamentally affects the freedoms we have in our society.”

PRE-EMPTIVE SECURITY

The ability to take pre-emptive action against rowdy patrons is exactly what pubs and clubs like about BarLink. “An ounce of prevention is a pound of cure,” says Paul Vickers, president of Penny Lane Entertainment Group, which owns clubs like Tantra, Coyotes and the soon-to-reopen Cowboys. “It’s a really good tool that is an obstacle to the perpetrators who would cause trouble…. It’s eliminated so much of our trouble.” Vickers says the system is especially helpful because he can share information between his different bars.

It was a Penny Lane patron who complained to the privacy commissioner regarding BarLink, but Vickers says most of his customers aren’t worried about having their IDs scanned. “If you’ve not done anything wrong, you don’t care,” he says. “We only use it for this. We don’t contact you. We don’t junk mail you.”

However, not all bars think scanning IDs is necessary. Jeff Beddoes, manager of Tequila Bar & Nightclub on 17th Avenue S.W., says a strong presence at the door is just as effective as an ID scanner. “The amount of people that we would actually ban from our club and notify other clubs about is very small,” says Beddoes, adding that he noticed a big difference when his doormen started doing pat-downs. “Immediately, you could see people walking towards the club, stop, see what you’re doing, turn around, go back to their car and then come back…. For us, that’s the best deterrent.”

REMOVING YOUR NAME

In the seven years BarLink has operated, Brad estimates only about 10 people have requested to have their names removed from the database. “There’s not an exact process,” says Brad. “But basically they can just phone the toll-free number. There’s a contact e-mail on the website as well.”

However, the 1-877-CLUBLNK number and the contact form on the website are both sales-oriented tools, and the answering machine on the toll-free number uses the name Nightclub Securities Solutions Canada and not the more recognizable name “BarLink.”

The BarLink website also has a “products” link that clearly offers a marketing program. “BarLink Promotions” can be used “to identify your market population and create tailored marketing campaigns,” according to the website. “That’s something that hasn’t been released yet,” explains Brad. “And that’s going to be a program that, if it is released, then it’s going to be with the consent of each individual.”

BarLink critics say proper consent isn’t happening. Certainly Derek, an Edmonton resident, didn’t consent to have his information taken when he went to a Whyte Avenue pawn shop. He simply handed over his ID without realizing his personal information would be entered into a central database. (He’s requested that his last name not be used, and he’s trying to get his name removed from the BarLink database.)

The pawn shop in question does have a sign posted in front of the BarLink kiosk informing patrons that their ID will be scanned, but Derek didn’t see it — which isn’t surprising, since the notice is small and unlit. Jenuth says signs like these should be huge, with flashing lights and explicit language. “Far too often in this society we give up our privacy for no good reason — and we do it without a fight,” he says.