The use of facial recognition at live events has become public with the recent report that it was used at Taylor Swift’s Rose Bowl concert on May 18th to spot potential stalkers.
A facial recognition camera was placed into a kiosk that ostensibly displayed rehearsal clips of Taylor’s Reputation tour, according to Rolling Stone.
As visitors viewed the video clips, snapshots of their faces were sent to a Nashville “command post” where they were cross-referenced with Taylor’s known stalkers, according to Mike Downing, chief security officer of Oak View Group. Downing was in attendance, invited by the manufacturer to view the system.
“Everybody who went by would stop and stare at it, and the software would start working,” Downing told RS.
Facial recognition at events is not new, but is increasing. Sources say that Madison Square Garden has been quietly implementing it at events and, earlier this year in a country known for heavy use of facial recognition, a man was busted at a China event for “economic crimes.” Meanwhile, Ticketmaster has been known to be working on facial recognition software while facial recognition startup Blink Identity has investors including Live Nation.
The news item appears as it is reported that the Reputation tour will emerge as a Netflix special on New Year’s Eve.
photo by jazills [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons • h/t Rolling Stone