Multiple law firms have filed suit against Madison Square Garden Entertainment after their employees were ejected from their venues, likely through the use of face-scanning technology. As far back as 2018, when the New York Times, it has been known that the company uses facial recognition tools. It seems they’re now using it to enforce their policy of forbidding anyone in active litigation against Madison Square Garden Entertainment from entering any of its venues.
The language used by the company is as follows: “MSG instituted a straightforward policy that precludes attorneys from firms pursuing active litigation against the Company from attending events at our venues until that litigation has been resolved. While we understand this policy is disappointing to some, we cannot ignore the fact that litigation creates an inherently adversarial environment.”
According to Rolling Stone, an attorney named Barbra Hart was celebrating her wedding anniversary at a Brandi Carlile concert on Oct. 22 at Madison Square Garden when two security guards removed her and her husband from their seats. After speaking with security and not giving them her name, she was informed she was flagged and was being ejected because of her job as an attorney at Grant & Eisenhofer, who are currently litigating the venue’s parent company. Other venues in the New York area include the Beacon Theatre, Radio City Music Hall and the Chicago Theatre.
Another lawyer named Kelly Conlon, an associate at Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, was removed from a Rockettes show at Radio City Music hall just this week while her daughter and her Girl Scout troop were entering. Notably, neither Hart nor Conlon was involved in their respective law firm’s actions and litigation against Madison Square Garden Entertainment.
The new practice from Madison Square Garden has led to a class action lawsuit on behalf of multiple law firms, raising questions about the new technology’s use and implications for the future.
Evan Greer, the director of Fight for the Future–a nonprofit advocacy group in the area of digital rights founded in 2011–spoke to Rolling Stone about Madison Square Garden’s practices, highlighting concerns around biometric technology at concerts: “This is the perfect example to show that these tools can be used in ways that are really alarming,” she said. “In some ways, this is kind of an innocuous case — it’s not like [Conlon] was arrested. But the reality is that this was a corporation with what amounts to a petty grievance, using a deeply invasive surveillance apparatus in a way that left a mom sitting outside while her kid went into a concert.”
Read the files pertaining to the events below.
