Facial recognition technology being used at popular venues in New York City is nothing new. Venue owners claims it’s for safety, but some city lawmakers are looking to block the tech because of privacy concerns. One of the largest venues in the city, Madison Square Garden, is at the center of a campaign gaining momentum at City Hall to ban such surveillance tech. “We should not have to give up our faces just to attend a basketball game,” DSA technology activist Raaid Arshad said Friday. Two months after the Knicks won the championship at The Garden, Arshad is part of a group not celebrating owner James Dolan’s policy of using facial recognition to screen who gets in and who doesn’t. NYC Council Member Shahana Hanif (D-Brooklyn) introduced a bill called “Ban the Scan.” The bill had not received much traction, but an aide to Mayor Mamdani Zohran backed it this week. “This kind of mass surveillance opens the door to abuse and discrimination, making consumers in our city uniquely vulnerable,” Consumer Affairs Commissioner Sam Levine said in a statement. Dolan’s venues have received scrutiny before for using facial recognition. In 2023, the I-Team reported that Girl Scout mom Kelly Conlin was kicked out of his other major venue, Radio City Music Hall, allegedly because her law firm had sued a restaurant group owned by MSG. A spokesperson for Madison Square Garden said Friday, “People have been recognizing each other’s face since the beginning of time — we just do it electronically.” The group adds that signs are posted outside of the venue in compliance with the law. There is currently no scheduled vote on the “Ban the Scan” bill, which would primarily regulate how the data that’s collected is stored and circulated. ...read more read less