The final Castro area-bar currently using Patronscan is pausing using the technology to take pictures of patrons entering during peak hours, but will retain the ID scan function. That function verifies whether a government-issued identification is valid. Nick Kealy, a gay man who is manager of The Mix at 4086 18th Street, is frustrated at the blowback the bar has received for using Patronscan to take pictures to verify IDs as part of the entry process. Criticism has come as some have stated the technology involves facial recognition, which Patronscan denies. Kealy’s announcement comes after Badlands and Toad Hall, the other two LGBTQ bars that used Patronscan, paused the technology entirely last week. A meeting August 12 convened by gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman’s office about the use of the technology didn’t include any of the bars involved. (Mandelman is away on vacation, but his staff held the meeting.) As a result of the meeting, a survey has been sent to Castro area bars and nightclubs. “This has gotten out of hand,” Kealy stated in a letter to the B.A.R. August 13, referring to controversy over the cameras, which he argued helps keep the bar’s employees safe. “We will always listen to legitimate concerns, but we will not surrender their safety to hypothetical scenarios, misinformation, or inaccurate claims about technology that has clearly made our workplace safer. We have a responsibility to the people who work for us, and we will not be bullied or pressured into compromising their safety. We will not overlook that responsibility to satisfy critics who refuse to engage with the facts, no matter how loud they get.” Privacy group Fight for the Future characterized Patronscan as running “AI face scanners,” and called for a boycott of the businesses using it, after a June 10