Updated 1:51 p.m. PT: Following the publication of this story, a spokesperson for Badlands and Toad Hall said they are pausing the use of Patronscan ID and facial scanners, effective immediately.
“We have heard the concerns regarding the use of PatronScan at Badlands and Toad Hall in San Francisco, and we are listening. Effective immediately, we are pausing the use of PatronScan while we review our ID verification and security practices,” said Brian Aranda, director of operations at both bars. “The safety of our guests and staff remains a priority, as do privacy and trust. Our security teams will continue to thoroughly check IDs manually during this time. We appreciate everyone who has shared their concerns and remain committed to providing a safe and welcoming environment for all.”
Tune-Yards, Deerhoof, and other Bay Area bands are among hundreds of artists who’ve agreed to only appear at venues that remove surveillance technology like facial recognition during their shows.
Organized by Fight for the Future, a digital rights group, the pledge states: “We want everyone to feel safe and welcome at our shows, so we commit to not allow venues to use invasive surveillance tech like facial recognition at shows we play by updating our rider to require this or boycotting venues that won't accommodate this request.”
According to Reem Suleiman, a Fight for the Future campaign director, the pledge has been posted on their website since 2023, but it gained new momentum this summer, after reporting from Wired and Gazetteer SF sparked public outcry over invasive surveillance at bars and entertainment venues across the country.
Nationwide, 342 artists have signed the pledge, with more than half of them doing so in the past two months, Suleiman said.
A similar pledge for venues that want to commit to not using surveillance technology is also available on Fight for the Future’s website. San Francisco spots, including DNA Lounge, Sour Cherry Comics, and Cheaper than Therapy comedy club, are new signers, Suleiman said. El Rio has also “been on there for a while,” she added.
The pledges are available to artists and venues nationwide, but Suleiman said her team has been doing extra outreach in the Bay Area. She hopes this will continue “putting pressure on the bar owners” in the Castro — including Mix, Badlands, and Toad Hall — whose use of facial scanners from Canadian data collection company Patronscan was noted in a Gazetteer article in June.
“There is something really powerful and symbolic and scary about the fact that these are bars in the Castro,” Suleiman said. “The queer community has been on the receiving end of the worst of what surveillance can do.”
Beyond artists and venues, Suleiman said Fight for the Future is also beginning to connect with other activist organizations, including national groups like Progressive Democrats of America and Restore the Fourth, as well as local ones like Oakland Privacy and Secure Justice, which is based in San Francisco. She said she hopes the pledge will help disparate advocacy coalitions organize and emphasize to venues how unpopular the use of more sophisticated surveillance technology has become.
In June, Badlands’ director of operations told Gazetteer the venue would continue to use Patronscan devices. Suleiman said Fight for the Future has also reached out several times to the owners of the Castro bars to try to reason with them directly. So far, she said, none of the bar owners have responded.
