Mix is one of at least three bars in the Castro, including Badlands and Toad Hall on 18th Street, that wheel out the Patronscan kiosk each night to collect the personal data of every customer that comes through the door, including names, addresses, genders, and even how they behave inside the bar.

What in the distopian fuck.

Management from Mix, Badlands, and Toad Hall did not respond to requests for comment about when or why they first started using the surveillance tech in their businesses, so I stopped by Mix last Thursday night to check things out for myself.

Like most private surveillance cameras, the Patronscan kiosk at Mix hides in plain sight. In the dim light of the bar, the black machine is easy to miss. I was also not instructed to face the camera when I handed my ID to the bouncer; when I asked if I would be photographed, the bouncer told me the camera had in fact already taken my picture. They said Mix bouncers are not required to verbally tell each patron that they’re being photographed by the Patronscan device. Instead, they rely on a small informational plaque posted to the kiosk below eye level to inform customers what data is being collected and how it will be used.

This shit right here is how the authoritarianism spreads - businesses voluntarily making themselves part of the surveillance state. There is no difference between this and Flock.

Any location that implements such technology should be publicly shamed and boycotted.

Launched in 2005, the company has been the subject of several legal disputes in recent years as surveillance technology and consumer tech literacy grow more sophisticated. In 2020, Canada’s privacy commissioner sent a cease and desist letter to Patronscan after the company was discovered using the government office’s official logos, creating “a misleading and false impression” that its services are approved by city, state, or federal officials.

Oh yeah, that sounds like a totally above-board and trustworthy business. Nothing shady going on there.

The morning after we chatted in the Castro, Gonzalez told me over Instagram DM that he was unaware Mix could share patron data with neighboring businesses but did not see a problem with it. “I think it’s cute that they share it amongst other bars,” he wrote. “It’s like a little cybersecurity community.”

Yes, your very own little police state. How cute.

Fucking disgusting. These are the kind of people who complain about their neighbors on Nextdoor.