Calgary club owner ordered to stop scanning patrons’ driver’s licences
February 20th, 2008 at 10:53 pm (general posts)
Could this be tested in Halifax at the Liquor Dome?
Calgary club owner ordered to stop scanning patrons’ driver’s licences
Sean Myers
Calgary Herald
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
CALGARY - A Calgary night club owner is vowing to appeal a decision to stop the practice of scanning the driver’s licences of patrons as they walk in the door.
Alberta privacy commissioner Frank Work ordered Tantra Nightclub and its parent company Penny Lane Entertainment to stop scanning licences and to destroy any information that has been collected.
Penny Lane owner Paul Vickers said he has spent millions of dollars installing the scanning equipment in his Calgary and Edmonton venues and they’ve proven to reduce criminal activity in his clubs.
“This is one of the things that keeps the bad guys out,” said Vickers. “Our sole purpose in scanning is the protection of our staff, patrons and property.
“I’m not going to sit idly by on this.”
In his order, Work wrote that at best, Penny Lane “offers conjecture that collecting driver’s license information of patrons may act as a deterrent to violent behavior.”
He said Penny Lane failed to offer any evidence to back up its claims that Tantra was made safer by the scanning practice.
The original complaint was made in 2005 by a University of Calgary law student.
After Penny Lane chose not to comply with a voluntary request to stop scanning, the matter went before the privacy commissioner for a binding decision.
The ruling is binding only on Penny Lane and Vickers has 50 days to appeal.