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The rise of ID/face scanning to access bars & clubs (web.archive.org)

submitted 1 week ago by freedickpics@lemmy.ml to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

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TL;DR

ID scanning is becoming a more common requirement to access bars and clubs in Australia (and worldwide). A company called ScanTek is used in over 1,000 clubs in Aus and provides tools such as biometric-matching someone's face to an ID, detecting fake IDs, flagging people and sharing data with other venues automatically

As well as verifying ages, ScanTek boasts "collect marketing information from IDs and drivers licences, which business owners can use to target specific demographics with promotions" on its website in a pitch to business owners. Though they claim to not share any of this with third parties

Australia's privacy laws are vague, don't specify what can be collected and how it must be stored, and only say that companies shouldn't keep data for longer than is "reasonable"

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[-] dai@lemmy.world 0 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

This is actually pretty minimal in Australia (as someone who has worked in Hospitality for 20+ years)

Very few venues actually require this to enter, the majority check at the door or once you ae inside the venue.

Edit: Some owners of multiple venues have rolled these systems out in the past that I've seen, generally ones that have seen a rise in patron issues. Its handy that if someone has caused issues in one place they won't get allowed into another; but it's not worth the privacy risk in my eyes.

this post was submitted on 19 Jan 2026

222 points (99.6% liked)

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