Facial Recognition at Madison Square Garden
Petition to Congress:
Madison Square Garden is using facial recognition technology to deny entry to patrons. As they try to normailize this level of surveillance is a gross invasion of privacy and Congress must regulate its use at performance venues.
Dystopian facial recognition surveillance technology may soon be coming to a venue near you. For patrons of Madison Square Garden, it’s already a reality.
Unsuspecting patrons who are just trying to enjoy a basketball game or a concert are being identified using facial recognition cameras and then turned away at the door. Not because of anything they have personally done, but because their employer is involved in a lawsuit against the arena.1
This isn’t a security protocol, this is corporate revenge and an intimidation tactic to discourage any legal action against the arena.
To make it creepier, the arena combs the websites of certain companies to access photographs of their employees. They feed that info into their facial recognition software which is how they are able to identify specific patrons. This insane invasion of privacy must not be normalized. Congress needs to get out in front of this slippery slope and ban this practice.
Sign the petition: Tell Congress to ban the use of facial recognition technology at performance venues.
MSG Entertainment has been using facial recognition technology at its venues since 2018.2 Patrons entering the area are met with signs that read: “Biometric Identifier Information Collected at the Location”. This reads like something straight out of a Sci-Fi horror movie based in a dystopian future.
The implications of letting this technology go unchecked are not difficult to imagine. At a recent Drake concert at Madison Square Garden, exiting patrons were met by NYPD officers filming them.3 Though the police deny that they were doing this in order to capture images of patrons’ faces for future identification, the lack of consent given by those being filmed as well as the ongoing utilization of facial recognition at the venue has caused civil rights group to express serious concern. Also, the decision to film patrons at a hip hop concert specifically has raised questions of targeted racial discrimination. “The NYPD’s use of a videorecording device on hip hop fans at a historic institution of Black performance in Harlem is highly concerning,”4
MSG has already proven that they are willing to use this technology out of spite. The Executive Chairman of the arena, James Dolan, has a history of banning patrons solely based on a personal vendetta.1 Dramatic invasions of privacy that utilize terrifying surveillance technology should not be wielded so carelessly.
Sign the petition: Tell Congress to ban the use of facial recognition technology at performance venues.