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Comment by sltkr | Hacker News Reader

In the EU, using this data to track customers would be illegal. That doesn't mean it can't happen, of course, but it should deter particularly large franchises from abusing this data.

In the US, bars often ask for photo ID to verify that customers are old enough to be served alcohol. That doesn't seem to lead to widespread customer tracking.

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It seems it does: https://onezero.medium.com/id-at-the-door-meet-the-security-...

> bars often ask for photo ID to verify that customers are old enough to be served alcohol.

1. This is a subset of all customers so it is not as useful as all customers

2. I’ve never seen a bartender or waitress scan my photo ID or record the data on the ID; without that it isn’t highly unlikely the data is being stored.

Your comparison is just not valid.

There are some bars in Sacramento, CA that not only scan your ID, but scan your face, and use facial recognition to match you with previous scans, ostensibly to make sure you aren’t sharing an ID with someone underage.

It is extremely creepy.

There's a gas station store that does this in Portland OR. They have a facial recognition camera at the door that scans each person to enter the store after sundown.

I have a lot of sympathy for people working late night in crime prone jobs.

time to avoid those bars. extreme oversight to ensure a 20-year-old doesn't drink. but hey at least the same 20-year-old can drive a car, vote for our public officials, and join the armed forces.

and buy a gun

Ever go to a cannabis shop in California? Your driver's license is scanned. I don't know about the facial recognition part, but it wouldn't surprise me.

Great! But I think we're talking about bars and restaurants.

Isn't it funny how shit like that is only reported from the USA? Here in the EU, the bartender looks with his eyes at the photo ID the teenage girl is holding up[1] and then pours her a drink.

But Yanks screech about European surveillance states, and denounce the evil EU and its "sheeple" citizens... Much better over there, of course, where it's just corporations and not the eevul gubmint that's doing it.

___

[1]: That she borrowed off her elder sister...

why has this been downvoted so much? what's false about these two statements? Should he/she have added "in my experience"?

In my experience, both statements are accurate.

I disagree with you. I have regularly had my ID scanned, in some bars systematically (all customers). Although only in the UK.

I don't get the downvotes here - these are two good observations.

Probably because it seems like personal experience. I can say most of the bars I go to check everyone’s ID, regardless of age. And there are a couple near me that scan IDs in to some system (allegedly so they can ban unruly customers.)

Surely this is down to regional variation. I go into bars all the time in Canada and no one ever IDs me.

> In the US, bars often ask for photo ID to verify that customers are old enough to be served alcohol

If I saw the person pull out a notebook and write my information down I would physically take my ID back and walk away. I'm pretty sure most people would be put off by this action.

I would be put off by it as well, but good memory and cameras are harder to spot, so the lack of a notebook doesn't offer much protection.

How about if they put it in a machine that verifies it as legit, but also just so happens to scan it in to a DB.

I've seen this exact setup before, in an entrance to a club, but no one seems to care.

I mean now we're getting into human psychology. You're right that people don't care as much but I'd argue that they don't really understand what is happening and how that data is used.

I'd wager that the vast majority of people think the machine only checks if the ID is valid and doesn't do anything else.

Usage is explicitly limited by the EU law:

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A...

Article 10

Protection of personal data

1. Regulation (EU) 2016/679 shall apply to the processing of personal data carried out when implementing this Regulation.

2. For the purpose of this Regulation, the personal data contained in the certificates issued pursuant to this Regulation shall be processed only for the purpose of accessing and verifying the information included in the certificate in order to facilitate the exercise of the right of free movement within the Union during the COVID-19 pandemic. After the end of period of the application of this Regulation, no further processing shall occur.

3. The personal data included in the certificates referred to in Article 3(1) shall be processed by the competent authorities of the Member State of destination or transit, or by the cross-border passenger transport services operators required by national law to implement certain public health measures during the COVID-19 pandemic, only to verify and confirm the holder’s vaccination, test result or recovery. To that end, the personal data shall be limited to what is strictly necessary. The personal data accessed pursuant to this paragraph shall not be retained.

Thanks, it makes the limits of the processing much clearer and should stop some start-up to develop a custom QR code scanner/app that would generate some customers analytics.

Oh they're trying - I'm pretty well known person in the community, and the amount of "start-ups" and seedy "one man CEO" types there is.. overwhelming.

Especially as technical details are widely available. https://sanipasse.fr/french-health-pass

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