http://www.wweek.com/portland/articl...verything.html
Multnomah County and Portland police this week suspended a new program that supplied data-gathering ID scanners to Old Town bars after WW raised questions about whether it was legal.
The state-funded program allowed Portland police to equip downtown bars and clubs in recent weeks with high-tech ID scanners that captured patrons’ names, ages and photos for upload to a central database, which police could then access.
There’s no indication patrons knew they were being tracked.
“We tried to say ‘no’ at the very beginning, and police strongly encouraged that we should do it,” says Mike Reed, general manager of the Boiler Room and Jones Bar, both located in Old Town. “We don’t want to track people’s every move. We considered that a possible issue.”
Despite his misgivings, Reed gave the scanners a try. So did a dozen other downtown clubs.
With government agencies already surreptitiously gathering information without warrants, the Portland program raised questions about transparency and privacy.
It might also have been illegal.Straus is referring to a 2009 Oregon law that limits companies’ legal ability to collect, store or share information from ID scanners. Straus says she was unaware Portland bars were collecting such data, or that police could grab it.
“We had wondered, when we wandered around Old Town, whether bars were complying with the swiping law,” she says.
Club manager Reed says police assured bar owners that it was legal to gather customers’ information and to share it with law enforcement.
“To our understanding, we’re doing everything within the law,” Reed says. “Police were definitely the big promoter of the scanners.”
In 2011, the state awarded Multnomah County a three-year grant to reduce alcohol abuse. Last year, the county gave $60,000 to Lines for Life, a nonprofit that works on reducing substance abuse, to purchase scanners for Old Town bars and clubs.Neither Portland police nor the city attorney was aware of the 2009 law until WW raised the question. “We‘re glad when someone brings this up. We want to do what’s best to protect public safety and protect people’s rights,” Multnomah County spokesman David Austin tells WW.
The bars used the scanners, Lines for Life owned them and Portland police controlled the devices. Police ensured clubs were using them.
“If we don’t use it, they know,” a downtown bouncer tells WW.“Millennials don’t care,” said Scott Lansing of Portland, standing outside the Rainbow Room as two of his friends wrestled in the snow. “We’ve just been brought up to expect that everyone has access to that information.”
Site Information
About Us
- RonPaulForums.com is an independent grassroots outfit not officially connected to Ron Paul but dedicated to his mission. For more information see our Mission Statement.
Connect With Us