Outside of Citi Field in Queens, New York, a small group of protesters gathered Wednesday to push back on the growing use of facial recognition scanning.
A group of eight people with the nonprofit advocacy group Fight for the Future and the New York-based nonprofit Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP) protested against facial recognition scanning and other biometric data collection outside a Mets game, trying to raise awareness among attendees about what was happening to some ticket-holders when they stepped into the stadium.
Before entering a Mets game, some ticket-holders now pass through scanners that collect and review images of their faces. At least 21 stadiums and arenas across the country have installed the technology, Slate reported. Some locations like Citi Field only scan faces of certain ticket-holders who opt in to use of the technology, buying into the promise of shorter lines and quicker concession stand interactions. Five other baseball stadiums — in Philadelphia; Kansas City, Missouri; San Francisco; Houston; and Washington, D.C. — have introduced the same program. Other venues, like Madison Square Garden, use the technology on everyone who comes inside.
Digital rights groups say facial recognition scanning is poised to make errors and threatens privacy, safety and data security.
A demonstration held by Fight for the Future and the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project outside Citi Field. Kat Tenbarge / NBC News
The groups protesting the use of the technology are calling for Major League Baseball and other sports leagues to stop using it.
“It’s one thing to use facial recognition on your own iPhone and you’re the one who decides if and when it’s used. It’s another thing when facial recognition is used by large companies against you,” Albert Fox Cahn, executive director of STOP, told NBC News. “When we roll out these invasive, discriminatory and abusive technologies, it really excludes a lot of New Yorkers from our stadiums.”
Cahn and the other demonstrators referred to studies that have found that facial recognition technology is biased against and error-prone in identifying people of color, especially Black women, as well as women, children and older individuals. In some cases, misidentification by facial recognition has led to false accusations and wrongful arrests of Black people. The protesters also suggested that such data could be used by law enforcement in the future, which has already happened with biometric data collected at a sports stadium in Brazil.
Since 2021, Citi Field has employed facial recognition as part of ticketing for those who opt in, advertising the option as Mets Entry Express. Similar technology has been introduced at stadiums and arenas around the world, as well as in airports. Madison Square Garden has used its facial recognition scanning to prevent lawyers who represented plaintiffs in lawsuits against the venue’s owner from attending events.
“When these large institutions can weaponize our bodies against us and use our biometric data without our consent as a tracking tool, it’s really chilling just how many ways that can be used,” Cahn said. He added that facial recognition scanning software has gotten cheaper in recent years, with more vendors popping up to market the technology to business owners and landlords.
The groups advocated for two bills that were introduced in the New York City Council in February that would regulate the use of facial recognition software, banning the use of it to verify or identify customers in public accommodations as well as to identify tenants and guests of tenants in residential dwellings.
Participants also delivered a letter, signed by 11 rights groups including Amnesty International, that opposed all uses of facial recognition within major league sports.
“Most facial recognition technology stores people’s biometric data in massive databases, and no matter what tech companies say about the safety of that data, they cannot ensure its security,” the letter said. “Hackers and identity thieves are constantly finding ways to breach even the most secure data storage systems. When it comes to face surveillance data, the consequences of a breach can’t be overstated––unlike a credit card number, you can’t replace your face if it’s stolen.”
Wednesday’s demonstration was part of a series of protests organized by Fight for the Future to be held outside stadiums across the U.S. over the next few weeks. In September, the group protested outside a Phillies game in Philadelphia, where facial recognition technology is also used for some ticketing.