New York City Lawmakers Push to 'Ban the Scan' at MSG
Activists and musicians rallied outside Madison Square Garden to support legislation banning facial recognition at the venue and other public spaces. Council member Shahana Hanif's bill has backing from more than half the City Council.
On Friday, privacy advocates and musicians gathered outside Madison Square Garden in New York City, urging lawmakers to pass new legislation that would prohibit the use of facial-recognition technology at the arena and in other public spaces. City Council member Shahana Hanif led chants of "ban the scan" and accused MSG and its CEO James Dolan of "flagrantly abusing biotechnology." Hanif introduced a bill in January that would bar public venues from deploying biometric recognition systems such as the facial-recognition tech used at MSG.
The Garden has long faced scrutiny for its biometric data collection practices. WIRED previously reported that fans who criticize Dolan or the New York Knicks can land on watch lists, with their faces stored in MSG's extensive database. In one case, arena security tracked a fan's every move during a Knicks game, recording whom they spoke to, when they ate, and where they sat. Hundreds of lawyers involved in legal disputes with Dolan or his properties have been banned from his venues, including a mother who was prevented from taking her daughter to a Radio City Music Hall show. In July, WIRED revealed that MSG maintains a database assigning risk scores to around 400 celebrities and VIPs, with some files including race and sexual orientation. MSG later filed a defamation lawsuit against WIRED.
At the rally, Hanif was joined by Brooklyn-based country musician Paisley Fields, a representative from the democratic-socialist working group NYC DSA Tech Action, and members of the digital rights group Fight for the Future. The "Ban the Scan" bill now has 27 endorsements, more than half of the City Council. Hanif said talks are underway with Council Speaker Julie Menin to advance the legislation. An MSG spokesperson dismissed the concerns, saying: "People have been recognizing each other's faces since the beginning of time—we just do it electronically."
Hanif told WIRED that as a Muslim who grew up in post-9/11 New York, she is no stranger to surveillance, but many people may not realize how much data is gathered simply by attending a Knicks game or a concert at MSG. She also expressed concern that Dolan—who has a long relationship with President Donald Trump—is the one collecting the data. "New Yorkers need to understand, right now, between AI and all these tools that are being sold to us as being for … our city's safety, are actually making us less safe," Hanif said.
