Over Thanksgiving weekend, Kelly Conlon, 44, a personal injury attorney from Bergen County, NJ, accompanied her 9-year-old daughter’s Boy Scout troop on a trip to Manhattan to see the “Christmas Spectacular” at Radio City Music Hall.
But before she could even glimpse the Rockettes, guards pulled Ms. Conlon aside and her foray into New York took an Orwellian turn.
“They told me they knew I was Kelly Conlon and I was a lawyer,” she said this week. “They knew the name of my law firm.”
The guards had identified her using a facial recognition system. They showed her a sheet that said she was on an “attorney exclusion list” created this year by MSG Entertainment, which is controlled by the Dolan family. The company owns Radio City and some of New York’s other famous venues, including the Beacon Theater and Madison Square Garden, where basketball’s Knicks and hockey’s Rangers play.
Its CEO, James L. Dolan, is a billionaire who has run his empire with an autocratic flair, and his firm this summer imposed the ban not just on lawyers representing people suing it, but on all of their firms’ lawyers. The firm states that “lawsuits create an inherently hostile environment” and so it enforces the list using computer software that can identify hundreds of attorneys through profile photos on their firm’s own websites, using an algorithm to instantly search images and make suggestions. do competitions.
Facial recognition technology is legal in New York, but lawyers have sued MSG Entertainment, saying the exclusion list is illegal. The use of facial recognition technology to enforce it has sparked outrage not only from people who turned away from Knicks games, but also from civil liberties watchdogs, who called it a startling new frontier showing why the federal government should ban the technology. regulate. The local grudge match has become part of a national debate about the specter of a privatized surveillance state.
“It’s a dystopian, shocking act of repression,” said Sam Davis, a partner at Ms Conlon’s firm, who was turned down from a Rangers game at the Garden this month.
The technology, which has become more powerful and accurate in recent years, is used sparingly by companies due to privacy concerns. Retailers have deployed it to identify shoplifters; airports use it to check in travelers and get them through security; and casinos rely on it to keep out gamblers who they believe may be cheating. But using it to hold back a company’s critics is unprecedented, says Adam Schwartz, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. He called it a “great leap forward that should be treated as radical”.
“This is punitive rather than protective. It sets a precedent for other companies to identify their critics and punish them,” said Mr. Schwartz. “It raises the question of what is to come. Will companies use facial recognition to keep out all the people who picked the business or criticized it online with a negative Yelp review?”
MSG Entertainment officials called the technology a useful and common safety tool at many sports and entertainment venues, noting that their New York City locations are near major transit hubs.
The Garden is already known for its tight security. There is always a heavy police presence, in part because the arena is in the heart of Midtown Manhattan and built above Pennsylvania Station, the nation’s busiest rail terminal. The station is guarded by law enforcement and sometimes soldiers on alert for terrorism. Fans attending events at the Garden undergo screenings that include metal detectors, bag searches, and explosive-detection dogs.
“We have always made it clear to our guests and the public that we use facial recognition as one of our tools,” the company said in a statement.
High-tech government surveillance is already common in New York City. Police rely on a toolbox that includes not only facial recognition, but also drones and mobile X-ray vans, and this month the department said it would join Neighbours, a public neighborhood watch platform owned by Amazon. With Buren, video doorbell owners can post clips online and police officers can enlist the help of residents in investigations.
A city law introduced last year requires commercial establishments to notify customers when biometric technologies such as facial recognition are used. Signs at Radio City Music Hall and other venues inform customers that the technology is in place “to ensure the safety of everyone.”
While MSG Entertainment officials would not say which facial recognition vendor they use, several companies offer the ability to create a database and generate an alert when a familiar face is spotted by surveillance cameras.
The company’s use of the technology against Ms. Conlon, first reported by NBC 4, is “terrifying,” said Evan Greer, an activist with digital rights group Fight for the Future. Ms Greer has called for a ban on the use of facial recognition in public areas such as shops, bars and event venues.
“We are talking about the small complaint of a powerful company,” said Ms. Greer. “But it’s just really scary to think about the ways this technology could enable powerful individuals, companies and institutions to target critics, business rivals, journalists, love interests — you name it.”
Madison Square Garden began scanning customers’ faces when it hosted the Grammy Awards in January 2018. MSG Entertainment officials said the surveillance is primarily used to identify people who may pose a security threat and that the watchlist includes customers who have broken the company’s rules. locations, either by being violent, throwing things or engaging in other misconduct.
The attorney ban applies to all areas of the company, but it only uses facial recognition in New York, it said. MSG Entertainment also operates an event venue in Chicago, but wouldn’t be able to use the facial recognition system there in the same way because Illinois has a unique state law that prohibits the use of biometric information without people’s consent.
In New York, the Dolan family’s businesses have regularly been the target of lawsuits and have been indicted by the state’s Supreme Court at least 20 times this year alone. Companies on the exclusion list represent people suing for everything from personal injury to loss of season tickets to shareholder complaints about business deals.
The ruined date nights are piling up. In November, Alexis Majano, an attorney with Sahn Ward Braff Koblenz, was escorted out of a Knicks game. Last week, Nicolette Landi, a personal injury attorney, was unable to use the $376.83 tickets to a Mariah Carey concert at the Garden that her boyfriend bought for her birthday.
Her company, Burns & Harris, last week filed a lawsuit against MSG Entertainment in Manhattan Superior Court, alleging the ban violates a state civil rights law that prohibits “unlawful denial of entry” to a entertainment venue.
“It’s appalling what they’re doing,” said Ms Landi, 29, who added she was unaware of the ban, was not involved in any case against the company and attended six events at Madison Square Garden in October before she took a picture. was added to her company’s website. “What if someone leaves the company? How do they prove they don’t work there?”
MSG Entertainment officials said the company has sent notice letters about the policy to law firms twice in recent months.
“While we understand that this policy may be disappointing to some, we cannot ignore the fact that litigation creates an inherently hostile environment,” the company said in a statement. “Lawyers will be welcome back at our locations once the lawsuit is resolved.”
In November, following a complaint from a law firm about the ban, the New York State Liquor Authority sent the Garden a letter saying that such a policy could violate liquor laws.
The episode is just the latest controversy for MSG Entertainment CEO Mr. Dolan, who has publicly feuded with fans and former Knicks players at the Garden, which hosts hundreds of events a year and is one of the world’s most famous arenas.
Mr. Dolan has threatened lifelong suspension from the Garden several times. Charles Oakley, a beloved former Knicks star, was handcuffed and ejected in 2017 after an altercation with security guards, and in 2019, Mr. Dolan said he would ban a fan for life after yelling at Mr. Dolan to get the Knicks to sell.
As for Mrs. Conlon, she missed the “Christmas Spectacular” on Radio City. She’s not a New York lawyer and had no clients in cases against MSG Entertainment, but her firm – Davis, Saperstein & Salomon – is suing one of the company’s restaurants in a personal injury lawsuit.
She walked around for two hours. Her daughter and the rest of the Girl Scouts enjoyed the show.
Susan C. Beachy contributed research. Chris Rim reporting contributed.