The renowned Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, home of the New York Knicks basketball club and innumerable Billy Joel concerts, is the latest flashpoint in the heated debate over facial recognition technology.
The operator of the arena, where Joe Frazier defeated Muhammad Ali in the “Fight of the Century” in 1971, is being criticized for utilizing software to identify and exclude particular attorneys from events at the venue, since they are involved in ongoing litigation against MSG.
Local legislators seek to stop the crackdown, which rights activists describe as a blatant abuse of a technology that is already causing privacy and control concerns from the United States to China.
“When the wealthy and powerful are allowed to use facial recognition to track the public, it puts everyone at risk,” said Albert Fox Cahn, executive director of the privacy advocacy organization STOP.
“This is a chilling illustration of how trivial retaliation can be,” he told AFP.
‘BULLYING WITH FANCY TOOLS’
Barbara Hart and her husband were celebrating their wedding anniversary at a Brandi Carlile concert at “The Garden” last October when they were halted by security personnel.
Before removing the couple from the arena, the guards reportedly identified her without seeing her ID card and despite the tickets being in her husband’s name.
The attorney suspects that the security officers utilized technology to match her face with a picture of herself from her company’s website.
Hart claimed she was targeted because her firm is suing the venue’s parent company, MSG Entertainment, despite the fact that she is not a party to the case.
“It was perplexing and distressing. The 62-year-old told AFP that he was subjected to “bullying with fancy tools.”
Hart is one of at least four attorneys who were recently removed from MSG Entertainment venues due to legal problems with the company.
Google pays over six billion rand to settle PRIVACY case
Kerry Conlon informed local reporters that she and her 9-year-old daughter were denied admittance to Radio City Music Hall in November while attempting to see the Rockettes perform.
Two additional attorneys reported being denied admittance to Madison Square Garden to see the Knicks and Rangers, respectively.
MSG Entertainment, owned by billionaire businessman James Dolan, has a “straightforward policy that prohibits attorneys from firms pursuing active litigation against the company from attending events at our venues until the litigation is resolved.”
Letitia James, the attorney general of New York, cautioned him on Tuesday that the policy “may violate” state civil rights laws.
This Monday, state senators proposed removing a loophole in the statute that bars the “wrongful refusal of admission” to entertainment venues for patrons with valid tickets.
‘ORWELLIAN’
The proposed modification, while applauded by rights campaigners, does not address the essence of the matter – expanding surveillance in the era of algorithms.
In New York, facial recognition technology is legal. It is utilized by law enforcement and airports.
The state administration will temporarily ban its use in schools in 2020. Cahn and other activists support a total prohibition.
According to him, the case of Madison Square Garden demonstrates that private companies may use facial recognition “to exclude anyone whose voice you wish to muzzle.”
Since 2018, MSG has implemented facial recognition technology. According to an article in The New York Times from that year, the venue utilizes an algorithm to compare images captured by a camera to a database of photographs.
“The facial recognition technology system does not retain images of individuals, with the exception of those who have been previously informed they are prohibited from entering our venues or whose previous behavior in our venues has identified them as a security risk,” an MSG Entertainment representative told AFP.
RISE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
The United States and the European Union are among those debating how to govern the use of biometric data, facial recognition technology, and artificial intelligence.
Supporters assert that facial recognition enhances security, while detractors assert that the imperfect technology is susceptible to false matches among ethnic minorities and is biased.
In addition, detractors cite the Chinese police’s use of it to track down and imprison recent demonstrators.
Daniel Schwarz of the New York Civil Liberties Union told AFP that the usage of MSG “paints an Orwellian picture of our current society.”
Through Peter Hutchinson © Agence France-Presse
»Madison Square Garden’s facial recognition system generates outrage«