Liquor stores went too far with licence scans: watchdog
Pilot project system violated laws, provincial privacy commissioner says
Alberta liquor and cannabis retailer Alcanna violated privacy laws in its attempts to deter thieves from its booze outlets, a provincial watchdog has concluded.
In response to a rising tide of thefts, the company began screening customers at the entrances to some of its Edmonton liquor stores in January, 2020 by scanning their driver's licence bar code in a pilot project with a system known as Patronscan, supplied by Calgary-based firm Servall.
While the Edmonton-based retailer was within provincial privacy laws in collecting the names, ages and photos of customers, it went too far, said Alberta information and privacy commissioner Jill Clayton.
“The investigation found that Alcanna, through the Patronscan system, examines all the information encoded in a driver's licence bar code, and retains gender and partial postal code in addition to name and age, which contravenes PIPA'S (the Personal Information and Protection Act) provisions on limited collection and use of personal information,” stated Clayton in the report released Thursday.
“The investigation also found the privacy notice in Alcanna's stores was inaccurate and did not provide adequate contact information in case individuals have questions about the collection of their personal information as required by PIPA.”
Clayton said she was unaware of the introduction of Patronscan until it was unveiled at a news conference as a way to deter liquor thefts that had risen at Edmonton Alcanna stores to 11,696 in 2019 from 3,588 in 2017, according to that city's police service data.
The number of robberies with violence or threat of violence at its outlets, which include Ace Liquor and Liquor Depot stores, had nearly doubled over that same time.
As soon as she was aware of the launch of Patronscan, Clayton said her office began an investigation into the project that partnered with Edmonton police.
“During the news conference and in subsequent media interviews, representatives for the organizations assured reporters that the technology had been “approved” by the office of the information and privacy commissioner,” she stated.
“The OIPC, however, was not aware of the pilot project until it was announced.”
Last April, Alcanna expanded Patronscan to two Calgary stores but said they'd limit it to those locations until OPIC'S investigation was completed.
Alcanna says the program has resulted in a 95 per cent and 100 per cent reduction of thefts at those seven Edmonton and two Calgary stores respectively while eliminating robberies at them.
The OPIC investigation concluded Alcanna intended to use the information gathered by Patronscan to share with police after the individual supplying it has committed a crime in the store.
Alcanna had told OPIC that collecting merely name and age wasn't sufficient given the presence of common names, therefore it needed the additional information that fell outside what's allowed by law, said the report.
“I find that it is reasonable for Alcanna to collect some personal information from individuals before allowing them to enter a store in order to “(Identify) patrons who are involved in a criminal activity that needs to be investigated and reasonable for Alcanna to disclose the information to police on request,” states the report.
“I note, however, that the Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Act (GLCA) specifically authorizes a licensee to collect and disclose name, age and photograph, whereas Alcanna says it collects and discloses name, age, gender, and partial postal code.”
The report noted signage at stores equipped with the scanner informs customers information gathered would be permanently deleted after 90 days unless that individual was involved in a crime.
Among the recommendations in the report are that Alcanna cease collecting that additional information, that it improve store signage to conform with privacy laws, adjust its information retention policy and how it collects data before expanding Patronscan to other stores.
Alcanna has already adopted those recommendations, said the company's director of corporate investigations Taylor Mann.
“The recommendations given to us are fair and we've been open to co-operating with the investigator,” he said.
And he said the effectiveness of the system is borne out not just by statistics but through staff and customer satisfaction.
“The staff feel much safer and feedback from customers shows they understand why it's being used,” said Mann.