One might expect to encounter sleazy behavior in a State College bar -- but not from the management.

The Gingerbread Man, 130 Hiester St., is planning to install a state-of-the-art ID scanner within the next six months. The scanner will read and store personal information from 43 states' drivers' licenses.

The restaurant plans to use the system to collect patrons' addresses to generate mailing lists, and even cross-reference the information with other files to obtain patrons' e-mail addresses, Joe Shulman, the establishment's general manager, said.

Shulman also said he plans to encourage managers of other local bars to also install the IDetect device.

We'd expect to encounter this in an English class discussing "Big Brother" in George Orwell's 1984, not when we're out for a few drinks on a Saturday night.

Some people might argue that the new scanners won't be any more harmful than other identifying technology, such as grocery store shopper cards, in which the users receive discounts for allowing the store to track their purchases.

But, the difference is that shoppers' club users sign up for the service and consent to the loss of privacy involved.

People handing over their IDs at a bar have no reason to assume that they are consenting to having the bar root around for their e-mail address, and bar patrons have no choice but to give their IDs to the door staff because of the age restrictions.

Therefore, we hope bars employing the IDetect will make it very clear to patrons that they're not just checking the patrons' ages, they are also gathering, storing and using their personal information. Then people can decide whether they're willing to forego their privacy for a beer or two.

We do applaud the Gingerbread Man for wanting to update its equipment to more accurately detect fake IDs. But the new technology should stop there.

People who are uncomfortable with a bar recording their gender, the dates and times of their previous visits, and their addresses should let local bars, especially the Gingerbread Man, know how they feel.

The system hasn't been installed yet, so there is still time to make our voices heard.