For Immediate Release
COUNCIL MEMBER SHAHANA HANIF, ADVOCATES RALLY AT MSG TO DEMAND BAN ON FACIAL RECOGNITION TECH
Following Progressive Caucus endorsement of Ban the Scan, bill sponsor Council Member Hanif and coalition allies rally outside Madison Square Garden
NEW YORK, NY— Today, New York City Council Member Shahana Hanif joined privacy advocates, artists, organizers, and New Yorkers to demand an end to the use of biometric surveillance in places of public accommodation and call on the City Council to pass her bill Ban the Scan, Int. 213.
The rally, organized with the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.), Fight for the Future, NYC DSA Tech Action, the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, musician and artist Cristy Roads, country musician Paisley Fields, and others, comes amid renewed scrutiny of Madison Square Garden’s use of facial recognition technology. MSG’s flagrant abuse of the technology to ban critics and violate the privacy of visitors perfectly illustrates the inherent danger of mass biometric surveillance. CEO James Dolan’s surveillance controversies have been producing outrage for years, with the latest reporting highlighting the enhanced privacy experienced by wealthy patrons.
“Madison Square Garden has shown us exactly what happens when corporations are allowed to deploy facial recognition without meaningful limits: they use it to track, profile, and blacklist people they don't like,” said Council Member Shahana Hanif. “Your face should not be a tool that a corporation can use to punish you for exercising your rights. We have the opportunity to stop this abuse in New York City. It is time for the Council to pass Ban the Scan.”
The need for action is particularly urgent as biometric surveillance becomes increasingly commonplace in private businesses and public-facing spaces in NYC. Advocates warn that sensitive information—including people’s faces, names, and voices—can be vulnerable to misuse, data breaches, or access by law enforcement agencies. This summer, a cyberattack exposed sensitive visitor information, including biometric data collected through MSG’s facial-recognition and surveillance systems. This breach demonstrates the danger of allowing private companies to amass vast troves of sensitive biometric information without strong limits on its collection and retention.
The coalition also highlighted growing opposition from artists and venues. Hundreds of artists and venues have pledged not to use facial recognition technology at concerts, demonstrating that entertainment and public safety do not require invasive biometric surveillance.
“No one should have to surrender their personal privacy in order to watch their favorite sports team,” said Department of Consumer and Worker Protection Commissioner Samuel A.A. Levine. “Intro 213 would prohibit providers of public accommodation— like sports arenas—from using biometric data to identify you in public and would ensure your biometric data isn’t sold. This kind of mass surveillance opens the door to abuse and discrimination, making consumers in our city uniquely vulnerable. It’s time to ban the scan and protect New Yorkers’ privacy and civil rights.”
“Buying a ticket to Madison Square Garden shouldn’t mean checking your civil liberties or your right to privacy at the door. Facial recognition technology is invasive, ripe for abuse, and has reportedly already been used to profile New Yorkers based on their gender identity and sexual orientation,” said Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal. “In the State Senate, I was proud to sponsor legislation to prohibit law enforcement from using facial recognition and other biometric surveillance technology. New Yorkers deserve those same basic protections when they walk into a venue to see a concert, a Knicks game, or a Rangers game. I applaud Council Member Hanif for leading the charge on this legislation and urge the Council to pass it swiftly. New Yorkers shouldn’t have to sacrifice their privacy for a night out.”
“New Yorkers love the Knicks, but they sure as hell don’t love having their biometric data captured when visiting the Garden,” said New York City Progressive Caucus Co-Chair Sandy Nurse. “Everyone has the right to privacy and deserves the basic respect of not having their sensitive information taken and stored, let alone by a private corporation. It’s time to Ban the Scan and protect New Yorkers from surveillance in public spaces.”
"No one wants this. Artists and fans have resoundingly rejected facial recognition at venues, and now we need lawmakers to make it official by banning facial recognition surveillance in places of public accommodation, including bars, stores, and music and sports venues like Madison Square Garden," said Evan Greer (she/her), director of Fight for the Future. "Bullies like James Dolan make the dangers of facial recognition explicitly clear. Going to a show should not be conditioned on being subjected to invasive, racially biased monitoring that puts fans at risk of getting harassed, falsely arrested, deported, or worse."
“We should not have to give up our faces to attend a basketball game,” said Raaid Arshad, NYC DSA Tech Action Working Group. “We should not have to let our gaits be analyzed just to buy a toothbrush. And, we should not be locked out of our homes or unfairly evicted because facial recognition tools can’t recognize our black and brown skin tones. We must Ban the Scan in New York City.”
“Surveilling, tracking, and storing information on anyone entering MSG is not safety, it’s intimidation and control,” said Daniel Schwarz, Senior Privacy & Technology Strategist at the New York Civil Liberties Union. “For years, James Dolan’s Madison Square Garden has weaponized biometric recognition and other forms of surveillance against all its patrons, exposing New Yorkers to retaliation, harassment, invasive monitoring, chilling speech, and putting people at risk of data breaches. Dolan must rectify these disgusting practices by immediately ceasing these spying operations, and the City Council must urgently pass Intro. 213 to prohibit businesses from deploying biometric surveillance on all of us.”
“Public facial recognition sparks the normalization of invasive government control, in a society that has become complacent to an already suffocating surveillance culture,” said Cristy Road Carrera, Author, Artist, Musician. “The cloud, face id, apple watch, location tracking, the rise of AI, meta algorithms, meta glasses— they all contribute to the framework of a larger war.”
"When people come to my show I want them to feel like they are part of a community, to feel safe and welcome,” said Paisley Fields, Musician. “Somewhere they can be themselves. The use of this technology will do the opposite of that. I don't see a way that facial recognition technology and ai surveillance in venues can be used in a way that is ethical and safe for my community."
“Facial recognition technology and other forms of biometric surveillance are more likely to negatively impact New Yorkers of color,” said Nina Loshkajian, Technology & Racial Justice Collaborative Fellow at the Center on Race, Inequality & the Law. “Given the proven higher error rates of the technology when identifying darker-skinned individuals, and the risk of increased deployment in neighborhoods of color, allowing this practice in New York City is akin to condoning a new form of algorithmic exclusion.”
“For years, MSG owner James Dolan has doubled down on using facial recognition to scan everyone entering his venues and ban individuals he dislikes,” said Surveillance Technology Oversight Project Executive Director Michelle Dahl. “Dolan is just one high-profile example, however, and we don’t know how many New Yorkers have been denied entry to stores, sports games, and other public accommodations based on biometric tracking. From Citifield to Wegmans, facial recognition has spread rapidly across our city, threatening the privacy and dignity of New Yorkers going about our daily lives. We shouldn’t have to hand over our faces to cheer on the Knicks, catch a concert, or pick up groceries. It’s long past time the City Council pass Intro. 0213 to ban the scan in public accommodations.”
The Surveillance Technology Oversight Project is a non-profit advocacy organization and legal services provider. S.T.O.P. litigates and advocates for privacy, fighting excessive local and state-level surveillance. Our work highlights the discriminatory impact of surveillance on Muslim Americans, immigrants, and communities of color.
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