Local electors are vehemently protesting Madison Square Garden’s use of facial recognition technology to ban and enforce certain lawyers.
Manhattan Senator Brad Hoyleman Segal and a number of pollsters gathered outside The Garden on Sunday to demand that controversial CEO James Dolan end the practice.
Democrat Hoylman Segal said, “Over the past six months, we have witnessed extraordinary, outrageous and alarming use of biometric technology.
“Obviously there’s a pattern here. There’s a pattern of punishing anyone James Dolan sees as a corporate antagonist,” he added.
At issue is the recent series of four fan exits from the Garden and Radio City Music Hall, which Dolan operates as part of MSG Entertainment.
Earlier this month, MSG staff inadvertently handed over Benjamin Pinchewski’s boots from a Rangers game after being detected by facial recognition technology, Hoylman said. And, like the woman kicked out of Radio City Music Hall, Pinczewski has been hired by a law firm involved in a lawsuit against MSG, though he himself is not working on the case.
“What Jim Dolan is doing… is creating an atmosphere of retaliation,” said Democratic Manhattan Congressman Tony Simone. “He shouldn’t get away with this.”
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MSG showed no signs of setbacks on Sunday.
“While we understand that this policy has disappointed some, we cannot ignore the fact that litigation creates an inherently hostile environment,” the organization said in a statement. All affected attorneys have been notified of the policy.”
It also defended the use of facial recognition technology as “a useful tool that is widely used across the country, including in the sports and entertainment industries.”
That’s not enough for privacy advocates, including Albert Fox Cahn of the non-profit Surveillance Technology Oversight Project.
“This technology is biased, error-prone, and a threat to all New Yorkers.” not.”
MSG claimed not to retain images of people, except for banned lawyers and individuals who are “security risks” due to “previous wrongdoing.”
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The group includes Kelly Conlin, who was kicked out of Radio City Music Hall to see the Rockets perform on Nov. 27 as part of a Girl Scout trip with his daughter, according to NBC New York.
As with other incidents, a security guard confronted her shortly after she entered and ordered her to leave.
“They knew my name before I spoke. They knew the company I was associated with before I told them. And they knew I was there. told me I wasn’t allowed to,” Conlin said.
She is an associate of the New Jersey-based firm Davis, Saperstein and Solomon and is suing the restaurant, which is part of MSG Entertainment, according to NBC, but she has not addressed the matter, according to NBC.
Long Island attorney Alexis Magiano was kicked out of a Rockets show at The Gardens on Nov. 5 in similar circumstances. He reportedly had an accident during a Billy Joel concert. Maggiano says he was not part of the case.
In the first known case of its kind, attorney Barbara Hart walked out of a Brandi Carlyle concert at The Gardens on Oct. 22 and her firm is involved in a lawsuit against MSG. told Rolling Stone. She was also reportedly fingered using facial recognition technology.
State Senator Liz Krueger expressed concern that others would copy MSG’s tactics.
“What I find very frightening about this story is that right now we think it’s Dolan’s place,” a Manhattan Democrat said Sunday. Who knows if I’ll go, ‘I like this idea.