Recommended Posts

I just got back from a local club (which was pretty packed), but before I got in the bouncer visually checked my photo ID and swiped it into a PDA (Thats all I know, no clue if the info was saved or what exactly it was scanned for), and then as soon as I got in I was being pat-searched, without notice, but my girlfriend who was with me didn't get searched at all (her ID was swiped into the PDA though). Just wondering if anyone else had a similar happening, or what you all think of this.

I had no notice at all of any of this, The bouncers never told me he was going to swipe my ID or search me (2 seperate bouncers) I just feel that a little bit of notice to the happenings would have been nice. I know they want to keep out underage drinkers and crazy drunks who want to go on a shooting rampage but I think this is gone a little far. what are your thoughts?

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/304376-photo-id-swiping-at-clubs/
Share on other sites

I'm guessing it's either to track statistics so that the club ownership/administration can keep things fresh and up-to-date...but I'm willing to bet it's more for the club to keep a record of who is there.

The first thing I think of is those clubs that had fires and people died or got seriously injured. This way, the club can give the authorities a record of who is there at the time and possibly even notify families, if need be. As far as I know, when you scan an ID (if this is a driver's license), they will have all of your personal information (name, address, phone number, etc.), and this can only be done by legal authorities, and in this case, probably the police.

Or maybe they just want to send out a mailer ;)

Depending on which state you're from, your age is encoded into a magnetic strip on your ID. It make designing a Fake ID much harder when you not only have to make it visually correct, but also digitally.

585718366[/snapback]

(Y) That makes alot more logical sense than my idea.

  • 6 months later...
I'm guessing it's either to track statistics so that the club ownership/administration can keep things fresh and up-to-date...but I'm willing to bet it's more for the club to keep a record of who is there.

The first thing I think of is those clubs that had fires and people died or got seriously injured. This way, the club can give the authorities a record of who is there at the time and possibly even notify families, if need be. As far as I know, when you scan an ID (if this is a driver's license), they will have all of your personal information (name, address, phone number, etc.), and this can only be done by legal authorities, and in this case, probably the police.

Or maybe they just want to send out a mailer wink.gif

This could be true, but they don't scan you when you leave, meaning the data would be invalid on who was there at the time.

Agreed that they only seem to search guys. But this ties in with the FACT that a lot of clubs operate a "We didn't see it" policy towards drugs. As long as the girls know the bouncers and sly them a freebie, they don't care.

Same with underage girls, ALWAYS full of em. Lads? No chance!

Just call the club manager and ask polietly. I'm sure they would be forthcoming with the information. Last thing, I'm sure they want is to have rumours about why they're doing it. Heck, just ask the bouncer next time.

If you're not happy with the answer, approach the BBB or inquire to the local police.

What kind of ID was this? drivers license?

Searching I don't mind since its usually rooteen stuff.  But the swipping of your ID, I'm paranoid and I wouldn't like that. Are they tracking you or something?  Where's that data going, who's going to see it, etc.

586626571[/snapback]

All the information that you can read on the front of the license, is also encoded onto the magnetic strip.

It is 100% legal for them to scan the ID.

At some of the local bars here due to me living in a college town if your ID does not swipe you are not allowed entry. It doesn't matter if the ID won't swipe merely because it''s dirty, or got sat next to a magnet. No swipe = No entry.

Big clubs (1000+ people) I'm always searched unless I'm going in with my DJ gear. Swiping the card happens sometimes but it's usually too long of a wait to get results to validate the card so they don't bother.

Pat downs are mandatory at major clubs. The majority of the time it's usually a girl though so I could care less. Just smile and be on your way. Many a time have I been groped but oh well, I just smile and say "Hey, this searching thing is fun. I should have tried this with my g'fs in high school... never got this far with them ;)"

It's for age verification and demographic surveying. One hundred percent accurate and completely unobtrusive. No need to be staring at a "supposedly" fake idea for five minutes. Just grab, scan, and check. The search once you were in is kinda out of wack, though. As far as I know, no data is actually saved because that would be pretty pointless. It's not like the bouncers are gonna remember your face. The clun owners just want to know the ages and male:female ratio. Think nothing of it.

They do this at the bars in Edmonton now as well.

But here, the bars are in a partnership with Edmonton City Police, and they are using the data especially to help dissuade known gang members from frequenting busy places.

it's questionable (how secure the terminals are) but the scanners are good for keeping underagers out and probably gives the club/bar an insurance discount as well :p

spot checks are also quite common - guys are always checked, girls purses are wanded and sometimes opened and checked in a small window beside the coat check by a female worker.

it's all in the name of good fun

i'd rather not get shanked at a bar.

It's done here In Nyc also at a few lounges I go to. Next time I am there I'll talk to the bouncer and see what he knows and what he's willing to tell me. I always wondered on whether or not it stored the information scanned, but it's really huge, so I am sure they can fit some type of memory, flash or hdd based in there, should they want to. I am not sure though, not sure also of if and when this became legal, but what type of intrusive checks aren't these days?

What kind of ID was this? drivers license?

Searching I don't mind since its usually rooteen stuff.  But the swipping of your ID, I'm paranoid and I wouldn't like that. Are they tracking you or something?  Where's that data going, who's going to see it, etc.

586626571[/snapback]

If you've done nothing wrong, then who cares. What are they going to do with it? They're not going to be able to drain your bank account, or hunt you down unless you've got something to hide.

  • 3 weeks later...
All the information that you can read on the front of the license, is also encoded onto the magnetic strip.

It is 100% legal for them to scan the ID.

At some of the local bars here due to me living in a college town if your ID does not swipe you are not allowed entry.  It doesn't matter if the ID won't swipe merely because it''s dirty, or got sat next to a magnet.  No swipe = No entry.

586627480[/snapback]

Same here.. are we in the same place? lol. I went out and my friend who just landed here from China not too long ago with a government ID wasn't allowed entry, they claimed they had "a stack full of fake ones" downstairs, but I wonder how they deduced that, considering they couldn't 'verify' with the magstripe.

  • 6 years later...

I just got back from a local club (which was pretty packed), but before I got in the bouncer visually checked my photo ID and swiped it into a PDA (Thats all I know, no clue if the info was saved or what exactly it was scanned for), and then as soon as I got in I was being pat-searched, without notice, but my girlfriend who was with me didn't get searched at all (her ID was swiped into the PDA though). Just wondering if anyone else had a similar happening, or what you all think of this.

I had no notice at all of any of this, The bouncers never told me he was going to swipe my ID or search me (2 seperate bouncers) I just feel that a little bit of notice to the happenings would have been nice. I know they want to keep out underage drinkers and crazy drunks who want to go on a shooting rampage but I think this is gone a little far. what are your thoughts?

I do security at some bars and clubs in toronto, and I have used one of those scanners. It's pretty cool, and some of them do actually save the information on it. You can actually link it to your computer. The one I used could tell your name, address, height, weight, eye and hair color, and when your card expires, also the one I used if you would swipe your bank card it will show your complete account number. By the way if there was 2 male bouncers they can't pat down a girl. They want but can't it's a law suit

That's an incredible bump!

I'm a software developer that utilizes the magnetic strip data from licenses into my software. It contains pretty much everything on your license, name, address, gender, license number, height, weight, birthday, exp date. No picture is stored there or on the 2D barcodes that some states have.

I forgot what cop show I was watching - probably "The First 48". Anyhow, it involved a shooting outside a club. The club swipes every ID and a camera films the person. Using that info, they can follow the person throughout the club and know when they departed. The show revealed three other patrons arguing with the victim. One by one, they traced the recording back to when each of the three arrived and collected their names and addresses. A pretty slick system.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • I am not a US citizen nor a Trump fan. Respect to both left and right. But I will, for the sake of fun, predict something for my own. There will come a day when the US and China will collide like titans ( over Taiwan or anything else ). Then, on that day, some people in this comment section will realize how good an idea it was to become independent in areas like that. ( Or atleast try )
    • Microsoft Edge gets tons of security features, including AI model that can see your screen by Usama Jawad Microsoft Edge may not be the most popular browser out there, but it does receive quite frequent updates that sometimes bring surprising new features and axe others that are not as popular. Now, Microsoft has detailed some of the new security enhancements that it has introduced in Edge for Business, typically used by commercial customers. Microsoft has emphasized that security features are baked into Edge for Business and offer native integration with security and governance tools like Defender and Purview. Browser sessions are governed by default on managed devices but can also be governed through dedicated work profiles on unmanaged devices. An important aspect in this area is controlling the use of shadow AI. We have talked about this before, but it essentially restricts employees from using unsanctioned AI apps through data loss prevention (DLP) policies, with Edge redirecting them to trusted AI services like Microsoft 365 Copilot. This feature, available as a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) license, ensures that confidential data never exits AI boundaries set by your organization in Purview. Additionally, Microsoft also has strong DLP policies for contractors. Contractors leveraging a Entra ID-joined work profile provisioned by their contracting company on a device managed by their actual employer can be restricted from downloading files locally. In such scenarios, the file is saved on the contracting firm's OneDrive rather than being downloaded locally. Another useful Edge security feature disallows copying and pasting from unmanaged locations and apps. Similarly, DLP policies can be configured at a granular level to restrict screenshots or downloading of files from certain locations. In the same vein, IT admins can block the installation of extensions, hosted apps, themes and scripts, and control if users can install extensions from external locations. They can also enable the installation of specific extensions and allow users to request access to certain extensions, so that they can be managed on a case-by-case basis. Finally, Edge for Business now has an on-device AI model that uses computer vision to see what's on your screen and block potentially malicious content immediately. This does not rely on site reputation, as it simply monitors what is being displayed on your screen, which means that it is effective against malicious content that takes over your screen and employs scareware tactics. Since this is an on-device AI model, it does use your system's resources, so it's enabled by default only on devices with at least 2GB of RAM and four CPU cores. You can find more details in the Microsoft Mechanics video here.
    • Could you come up with a slightly less depressing background for Tux instead of that gray gradient? Doesn't have to be cheerful, just less of a downer...
    • Linux 7.2's first release candidate gets off to a good start by Paul Hill Credit: Larry Ewing It has been a few weeks since the release of Linux 7.1, and in that time, the Linux 7.2 merge window has been open, where developers can submit their features and patches ready for the upcoming release. That window is now shut, and the release candidate phase has begun so that new features can be tested and further fixes applied. According to the founder of Linux, Linus Torvalds, this week’s release candidate looks “reasonably normal”. Although we are super early in the release candidates, this is a good sign as it makes it more likely that an eighth release candidate will not be needed. Torvalds even mentioned that the update’s stats are only larger than they really are because there was another AMD header drop with a third of the patch just being AMD GPU register definitions, which aren’t big changes but make the code contributed look larger overall. In addition to this, he noted that just over half the patch is drivers, even when excluding the AMD register dump. The rest of the changes are spread out over architecture updates, tooling, documentation, and core kernel updates. In the next week, Torvalds says that he will be chilling out, taking the week “mostly off”. Despite this, he will be reading emails and keeping up with things, so if he is slow responding, now you know why. He said he is hoping for a calm week, but we will just have to see if the second release candidate is actually like that. We should expect seven or eight release candidates before Linux 7.2 is released, so expect it around the end of August. If you missed it a few weeks ago, be sure to check out our coverage of Linux 7.1's release.
    • Ridiculous claim that the labor cost difference of $6000 annually would increase cost per phone by $200. The employees produce 3 phones per month or what?
  • Recent Achievements

    • Dedicated
      Zeynel earned a badge
      Dedicated
    • One Month Later
      JKR earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Dedicated
      Asgardi earned a badge
      Dedicated
    • Conversation Starter
      jessse3334 earned a badge
      Conversation Starter
    • Reacting Well
      JuvenileDelinquent earned a badge
      Reacting Well
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      496
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      248
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      154
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      86
    5. 5
      macoman
      65
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!