With the rehearsal videos being played on a kiosk at her May 18th Rose Bowl show, unaware of 1 crucial detail is Taylor Swift fans that were mesmerized. The catch: Inside the display, there was a facial-recognition camera that was secretly taking their photos. The pictures were being transferred to a Nashville “command post,” where they were cross-referenced with a large database of many of the pop star’s known stalkers, as per Mike Downing, the chief security officer of a planning board for concert venues including the Forum in Los Angeles in California Madison Square Garden in New York City called the Oak View Group. Her fans love her songs like “All Too Well”. But that fan love sometimes goes overboard and needs to be cut.
As a guest of the corporate that manufactures the kiosks, Downing attended the concert to witness a demo of the system. He said, “Soon, the software would start working as everybody who went along would stop and stare at it.” (Swift’s reps did not reply to the requests for comment.)
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For starters, who owns those pictures of concertgoers, and the way long can they be kept on file despite the apparent privacy concerns? at stadiums and arenas, the utilization of facial recognition technology is on the increase, and security is not the sole goal here. A startup called Blink Identity claims that its sensors can identify people walking past at full speed in about half a second, which is where Ticketmaster invested earlier this year for the task.
A privilege that will be offered to high rollers and VIP guests before it reaches the masses, the ticketing giant hopes that the technology will help fans move through turnstiles more efficiently. “It holds plenty of promise,” says Justin Burleigh, the chief product officer of Ticketmaster, adding that the corporate plans to beta-test the tech at several venues early next year. “About the way and where we implement it suggests that we were just being very cautious.”