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what is this I don't even

Bouncers In the UK Are Asking to See Facebook Profiles Before Letting People in Nightclubs

by Jamie Frevele | 3:59 pm, May 5th, 2012


Here is an obnoxious new development in the Facebook privacy debate: Some of our friends across the pond might find themselves denied access to nightclubs in the UK — because they denied a bouncer access to their Facebook profile. No, really. The BBC reports that bouncers are asking people to log into their accounts on their phones outside of nightclubs to see if their profile names match their drivers license. Let’s talk about how little sense this makes!

Besides the ridiculous notion that Facebook provides just as official a record as a government-issued drivers license that your name matches exactly, are we to assume that in order to enter a nightclub, some kind of social or moral standard must be met beforehand and proven on Facebook? Facebook? Actually it’s not related to your conduct, this check. It’s to confirm one’s identity to make sure underage clubbers aren’t entering the premises. Because no one lies about anything on Facebook!

In defense of the club owners and bouncers for just a moment, the fine for allowing an underage person inside a nightclub that serves alcohol can be as high as £5,000 (a little over $8,000 American). And it’s not that they want to see what people are doing on Facebook or what kind of pictures and comments they’re posting. It’s just a matter of cross-checking identities, and fake IDs are hard to spot. But again — since when is Facebook a reliable form of identification? And the checking process still means that bouncers will see what’s going on in someone’s private profile. If you’re wondering if they’ve issued the “Well, if they’ve got nothing to hide…” line, then you would be correct.

However, Paul Martin-Beades, director of a company that trains club security, Akira Training, says that such checks are wrong, and he’d never tell the guards he’s training that asking to see someone’s Facebook profile was appropriate. To boot, any guard making it through the training process has to be approved by the Security Industry Authority, which would also never approve of poking around in someone’s business like that.

But I think one of the biggest questions is what if someone doesn’t have a Facebook account? Or a smartphone? Someone can’t get into a club because they didn’t have a Facebook account or smartphone for the bouncer to check? Should Facebook or smartphone manufacturers get in on these clubs’ business?

(BBC via Boing Boing)

Previously in Facebook Privacy

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  • Anonymous

    When I was 17 half the people I knew were friends with one of the bar’s bouncers on Myspace. So I can’t see this one working. Mind, that was the kind of place you could just scrawl “I am 18″ on a piece of cardboard to use as ID.
    …just mentioning Myspace makes me feel old.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_LFHOEUG3QJAEWPNI2CFIOYD6EM Katie

    A friend of mine had her name changed as a joke to “Mint Berry Crunch”. I guess she won’t be getting into any UK nightclubs hehe.

  • http://twitter.com/ironduck Addie/Annie D

    I have my name down as Nik Nak on FB so I guess I won’t be either. :P 

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