Madison Square Garden Entertainment failed to throw-out a lawsuit over its use of facial ID at venues in New York City this week.
The company first installed facial recognition systems at its venues to see if anyone considered potentially dangerous were attending events, however, in June of 2022, the reference dataset was changed to also identify lawyers who were on MSGE grounds for specific lawsuits. Currently, MSGE prohibits lawyers from firms involved in cases against the company to enter any of its venues.
The suit was brought forth by Aaron Gross and Jacob Blumenkrantz, “individually and on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated,” in the Southern District of New York. The question at hand regarding the use of the policy is the alleged violation of the city’s Biometric Identifier Information Protection Law.
“MSG’s campaign not only shocks the conscience, as articulated by the numerous public officials who have spoken out on this matter, but it is also unlawful,” the suit reads. “As set forth in this complaint, MSG’s profit-motivated use of its facial recognition technology system violates the protected (and valuable) privacy rights of all consumers in their unique and personal biometric identifier information, not just the attorneys and litigants MSG seeks to ban.”
While MSGE reportedly made a claim to dismiss the civil rights violations — and previously dodged other attempts of dismissals — the suit will move forward.
