Backlash to Madison Square Garden's Biometric Surveillance Goes IRL

Privacy advocates and musicians rallied outside Madison Square Garden on Friday, pushing for new legislation to prevent facial-recognition technology at the venue and other public spaces in New York City. Madison Square Garden is well-known for its biometric data collection practices. As WIRED has previously reported, fans who are critical of MSG CEO James Dolan or the New York Knicks can end up on watch lists, their faces filed in MSG’s extensive database. In one instance, MSG security tracked the movements of a specific fan at a Knicks game down to the minute, cataloging their movements, who they spoke with, when they ate, and where they sat. Hundreds of lawyers involved in disputes with Dolan or Dolan-owned properties have been banned from Dolan’s venues, including a mother who was blocked from taking her daughter to a Radio City Music Hall show. In July, WIRED reported that MSG also maintains a database that assigns risk scores to around 400 celebrities and VIPs. Some of the dossiers also include the race and sexual orientation of those who attend the arena. MSG filed a defamation lawsuit against WIRED later that month. At the rally on Friday, New York City Council member Shahana Hanif was joined by Brooklyn-based country musician Paisley Fields, a representative from the democratic-socialist working group NYC DSA Tech Action, and members of the digital rights advocacy group Fight for the Future. “People have been recognizing each other’s faces since the beginning of time—we just do it electronically,” an MSG spokesperson said in an emailed statement.