Alberta privacy commissioner investigating Alcanna’s use of ID scanning at liquor stores

One day after expressing concern, Alberta’s privacy commissioner is now investigating Alcanna‘s ID-scanning pilot project aimed at curbing violent liquor store robberies.

Alcanna — Alberta’s largest liquor store owner — and identification scanning system company Patronscan announced the project at a news conference with the justice minister and Edmonton police on Monday.

Alcanna, which owns Liquor Depot, Ace Liquor, Wine and Beyond and Nova Cannabis brands, has installed the systems at three of its locations in Edmonton, with plans for a fourth. Customers must scan their government-issued ID in order to get into the stores.

Patronscan said customers’ information is not kept in the devices, but stored in its data centre with restricted access. The company said Monday its technology complies with Canadian, Alberta and B.C. legislative and regulatory requirements.

The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC) of Alberta said it first heard of the pilot project via media reports.

“An independent analysis of this use of the technology has not been conducted by the OIPC,” it said.

“Assertions by the companies that the identification scanning system used in liquor stores complies with privacy laws in Alberta are misleading,” Scott Sibbald, communications manager for the OIPC, said in an email to Global News.

He said claims that this technology has been approved by Alberta’s privacy commissioner and that a privacy assessment review was done do not “appear to be true.”

“The investigation will determine whether the use of this technology in liquor stores is compliant with the Personal Information Protection Act, Alberta’s private sector privacy law,” OIPC said Thursday.

Patronscan’s CEO says the company has been in Alberta for over 10 years and has a long history with the privacy commissioner’s office regarding its technology.

“When we first came to this market, we submitted to them our privacy impact assessment, privacy risk assessment, privacy policy and privacy charter,” Alberio Bathory-Frota told Global News on Wednesday.

“I like to think we have a great relationship with them. They’ve looked at our technology at various times since then and we’ve always been found to comply with the local privacy laws.”

Personal identification scanners have been used in many Edmonton bars and nightclubs since the early 2000s. In 2015, Edmonton police said about 30 to 40 per cent of establishments were using them voluntarily.

Alcanna has installed them in some of its stores due to what Edmonton police said was a 200 per cent increase in liquor store theft calls between 2018 and 2019. Police said last year, officers responded to almost 9,600 theft of liquor calls — about 26 calls per day across the city.

Bathory-Frota said they did not consult with the privacy office specifically about using the scanning technology at liquor stores prior to the launch with Alcanna, but stresses it’s the same product and the same application.

“The technology hasn’t changed and the purpose hasn’t changed. The purpose is to increase public safety through ID scanning for age-controlled products.

“So, whether the venue be a bar/nightclub or the customers at a liquor store, in my understanding, it’s still the same purpose.”

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“The product we use, Patronscan, has the exact same security and privacy safeguards no matter who the client is. So the product and the purpose is, I believe, the same. But, like I said, we look forward to speaking with the [privacy commissioner’s] office and clarifying that.”

After hearing the OIPC had concerns on Tuesday, Bathory-Frota said he contacted the office and has already had several discussions.

Due to a variety of factors, the privacy commissioner’s office said there’s no timeline for its investigation.