Nightclub scanners raise privacy concerns… again.
December 29, 2013 |
The use of identity scanners by pubs and nightclubs has long been considered significantly privacy invasive technology which has few practical benefits. The old saw trotted out by proprietors is that these systems are used to identify and keep out those who have been excluded in the past. It is a poor excuse for widespread interference with patrons’ privacy. Selective use of the technology and poor data storage and security policies makes an already flawed system an appalling waste of money which is inherently privacy invasive. The Age covers this issue in Report raises privacy concerns over nightclub scanners.
The particle provides:
An Australian Institute of Criminology report has called for a moratorium on identity scanners in nightclubs, after finding they don’t reduce alcohol-related violence and raise serious privacy issues.
On Friday, the O’Farrell government revealed it had been forced to postpone its trial of identity scanners in Kings Cross, due to start last week, after the company chosen by venues to supply the technology failed a government probity check.
The institute’s study of identity scanners in Geelong nightclubs found venues had adopted them to avoid a proposed lockout, but assaults and alcohol-related emergency department admissions had increased since the scanners were introduced.
Violence was ”displaced” from the 10 high-risk clubs using the identity checks on to the streets, the study suggested.
Police weren’t using the data collected to identify violent offenders, and when long queues formed, venues only selectively scanned patrons.
Report author Darren Palmer, associate professor of criminology at Victoria’s Deakin University, said privacy was a serious concern because the scanners were creating huge databases of addresses and names within an industry that had a problem with ethical behaviour.
”The system relies not only on the probity of the supplier, but the people who run the venues,” he said.
Widespread uncertainty over security training, data management and privacy arrangements was uncovered. The O’Farrell government has rejected calls for a 1am lockout in Kings Cross in favour of the 12-month scanner trial.
Hospitality Minister George Souris said on Saturday the situation in Geelong was ”radically different” to what was planned for Sydney, where 35 high-risk venues will be involved.
”The government is confident that ID scanners will have a positive effect in reducing alcohol-related violence in Kings Cross,” Mr Souris said. ”In Geelong the scanners are not subject to statutory oversight, and there were also no clear protocols dealing with information security or the sharing of data between CBD venues, police and other agencies.”
Kings Cross licensees who won’t be required to install the scanners have asked Mr Palmer to conduct independent research into the impact of the trial.
Meanwhile, the Kings Cross Liquor Accord chief executive Doug Grand said he was yet to be formally notified by the state government that it had cancelled the tender process.
The accord was given just six weeks to find a technology supplier, and five days to evaluate the tenders, he said. The government had briefed the companies on privacy requirements before tenders were submitted, he said. ”We all knew privacy was the biggest issue and that was why the government was doing the probity. The systems in the marketplace are more sophisticated than what will be allowed in Kings Cross,” Mr Grand said.
A new tender process will be held next year. The supplier can’t have links to venues or licensees.