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Le foto dei siti web degli studi legali sono usate per il riconoscimento facciale. <https://gizmodo.com/madison-square-garden-facial-recognition-what-we-know-1850041475> The future of facial recognition use by private companies in the United States could boil down to who emerges victorious in an ongoing dispute between a collection of lawyers and a petty, authoritarian New York billionaire. The place: one of America’s most famous venues, Madison Square Garden. The owner: James Dolan. Over the past three months, multiple lawyers in the New York area have come forward with dramatic accounts of being denied entry into Madison Square Garden and other venues also owned by MSG Entertainment. The common factor in their stories? Each of them were spotted by the company’s facial recognition system. That system was looking for lawyers from an estimated 90 law firms with active litigation against Madison Square Garden or MSG who were placed on a list denying them entry into the venues. The venue justifies banning the attorneys, many of whom aren’t personally involved in the lawsuits, because their presence somehow “creates an inherently adverse environment.” New York’s Attorney General, on the other hand, says that practice may violate state civil rights laws. Madison Square Garden first rolled out facial recognition systems to its venues in 2018 with the stated goal of increasing security. “This is bad, and it’s just one example of how facial recognition could be used to infringe on peoples’ rights,” Fight for the Future Director Evan Greer said in a statement. “This technology puts music fans, sports fans, and others at risk of being unjustly detained, harassed, judged, or even deported.” Madison Square Garden’s owner says he’s not going to stop using the technology any time soon. Here’s everything we know about the Madison Square Garden facial recognition saga so far. 2 / 10 A basketball fan was ejected from a Knicks game because his law firm was representing someone suing Madison Square Garden On November 5, 28-year-old Long Island attorney Alexis Majano went with a friend to watch the New York Knicks face off against the Boston Celtics, only to be stopped by security guards at the venue’s escalators. Majano, whose law firm Sahn Ward Braff Koblenz had a pending legal case against MSG, told The New York Post a man in a suit told him the manager wanted to speak with him. Security had reportedly blocked off a nearby exit. Majano claims he spoke with an employee who showed him a list of 20 to 30 pages of names, all of which were allegedly on the venue’s list of people banned from entering. The same employee told the fan he had been identified using the venue’s facial recognition system. Majano claims he never showed the venue his ID when entering and the tickets were in his friend’s name, which means it would have been almost impossible for the venue to locate him without facial recognition. “I was upset—we had a whole night planned out that got botched,” Majano told The Post. “I said, ‘This is ridiculous.’” 3 / 10 Facial recognition was used to ban a mom attending a Rockettes Christmas show with her daughter at Radio City Music Hall Late last year, a lawyer named Kelly Conlon took her daughter to see a Rockettes show at Manhattan’s Radio City Music Hall, only to be denied entry after being flagged by the venue’s facial recognition system. She worked for a law firm taking legal action against MSM Entertainment. In this case, however, Conlon was neither plaintiff nor defendant in the litigation. The venue with the active litigation, a restaurant owned by MSG, wasn’t even based in the same state as Radio City Music Hall. Conlon claims she was stopped by security immediately after walking through the venue’s metal detectors and asked to show her ID. “They knew my name before I told them,” Conlon told NBC New York.” They knew the firm I was associated with before I told them. And they told me I was not allowed to be there.” 4 / 10 A lawyer was banned from a Brandi Carlile show at Madison Square Garden on her anniversary Barbara Hart, a lawyer from the firm Grant & Eisenhofer, was reportedly removed from a Brandi Carlile show at Madison Square Garden on her anniversary after being spotted by facial recognition. Hart, who believes the venue was able to detect her based on a photo posted on her employer’s website, said her firm has active litigation against MSG, but noted that she herself was not part of that litigation. “It was a very eerie experience to be on the receiving end of,” Hart said in an interview with Rolling Stone. 5 / 10 A Brooklyn lawyer was booted from a New York Rangers hockey game 61-year-old Brooklyn personal injury lawyer Benjamin Pinczewski told the New York Post he was making his way down to the lower level-seats with friends at a New York Rangers game when he was apprehended by two guards. The guards told Pinczewski he’d been detected by the venue’s facial recognition system and that he would be escorted out due to the company’s rule banning attorneys involved in active lawsuits against MSG. “It was a slap in the face,” Pinczewski said in an interview with The New York Post. “I’m at the main entrance with thousands of people—and they’re looking at me like I’m some sort of terrorist or criminal.” 6 / 10 James Dolan: The billionaire behind the business (and the beer ban) Madison Square Garden first started implementing facial recognition systems at its venue back in 2018 but has only more recently gained attention for using those systems to target lawyers. The man credited with the new policy is controversial MSG CEO and billionaire James Dolan. The loudmouthed executive has a history of squaring off with fans, media, and lawmakers alike, and hasn’t been shy about threatening people who get on his bad side with lifetime bans. Dolan spoke out about the facial recognition bans this week, during an unhinged morning talk show appearance where he criticized lawmakers for looking into his bans on fans, which he claimed he was entitled to implement under the Bill of Rights. At one point during the interview, Dolan reportedly targeted the head of the New York State Liquor Authority to “stick to his knitting.” The Liquor Authority has launched an investigation into Dolan’s targeting of lawyers and suggested it was considering taking away his liquor license. In response, Dolan said he would beat them to the punch and implement a “beer ban” of his own. 7 / 10 Madison Square Garden’s facial recognition and fan bans spur new state legislation The flurry of fan bans and subsequent lawsuits filed against Madison Square Garden by some of the lawyers who were allegedly targeted has gained the attention of New York state legislators. Last week, state senators introduced a new bill that would prevent MSG and other sporting venues from denying entry to individuals who possess a valid ticket. The legislation would add sporting events like the New York Knicks stadium to a list of public places. New York state senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal one of the authors behind the new legislation, called the venue’s practice of using facial recognition to bar lawyers entry “absurd.” “MSG claims they deploy biometric technology for the benefit of public safety when they remove sports fans from the Garden,” Hoylman-Sigal said in a statement. “Our legislation will close the loophole in state law that allows MSG to remove fans from the Garden and encourage an end to surveillance for non-security purposes.” 8 / 10 New York attorney general Letitia James says Madison Square Garden’s use of facial recognition could be illegal The lawyers’ bans caught the eye of New York’s top prosecutor, Attorney General Letitia James. In a letter sent to MSG Entertainment James suggested the firm’s record of denying certain fans could potentially violate New York’s civil and human rights laws. “MSG Entertainment cannot fight their legal battles in their own arenas,” James said in a statement. “Anyone with a ticket to an event should not be concerned that they may be wrongfully denied entry based on their appearance, and we’re urging MSG Entertainment to reverse this policy.” James went on to say MSG’s policies—made a reality by facial recognition—could dissuade attorneys from taking future legitimate legal actions against the company over fears doing so could wind up with them being denied entry to events. 9 / 10 Dolan doubles down Neither the lawsuits, the new investigation, or the threat of an impending AG investigation have been enough to dissuade MSG from its policies. In fact, the company this week doubled down on its actions. In a dramatic statement sent to Gizmodo Thursday, MSG Entertainment planted its feet in the ground, defending the practice and calling out so-called “self-serving politicians” they claimed were using the news as a fundraising ploy. “We urge our elected representatives to focus on causes that improve the quality of life for their constituents—such as addressing rampant crime and homelessness in the city, rather than taking up the cause of a small percentage of attorneys so they can attend Knicks and Rangers games,” CEO James Dolan said in the statement. “These elected officials are exploiting this issue for their own publicity.” In the bizarre statement, MSG cast aspersion on the scores of attorneys included on its ban list which it described as, “money grabbers whose business is motivated by self-promotion and who capitalize on the misfortune of others.” MSG said it has used facial recognition at its venues since 2018 and believes it is within its right to deploy it against attorneys. 10 / 10
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