Velvet Ropes ... and Facial Detection

Moon, a new nightclub in the Front Street district of Hamilton, Bermuda, is stepping up its security procedures by adopting a facial recognition system called Biometric Bouncer.

The system is very straightforward. A (human) bouncer enters new visitors’ information, scans their ID cards and takes a photo of each of them. The next time they come to the club, the camera will pick up their facial features and clear them for entry.

The club owners hope the system will keep trouble-makers out, while creating an air of exclusivity and safety. They also hope other Front Street bars and clubs will invest in the same system to promote information-sharing between businesses.

"If other places adopted this system, a database could be set up to highlight people who cause trouble," said David Madeiros, Moon’s manager. "For example, if a person gets banned from a club down the street, they could enter that into the system and if they were to show up at Moon, we would be able to see that they were banned and what they did."