More taking sides in NYC facial recognition discrimination saga

What biometrics needs is a noisy and petty soap opera, and that is what it will get.

The slap fight in New York between the owner of globally known entertainment venues and his enemies is pulling more participants in for maximum schadenfreude.

The New York State Bar Association has formed a working group to address the use of facial recognition to expel from events people who are disliked by James Dolan, owner of Madison Square Garden Entertainment.

The bar’s executive committee have opened the Work in Group on Facial Recognition Technology and Access to Legal Representation.

The attorneys will be looking into how Dolan is using face scanning to kick out opposing lawyers and whole law firms from any event held at MSGE properties.

The president of the state bar, Sherry Levin Wallach, told legal industry trade publication Law360 that using algorithms in this way “discriminates against lawyers for doing their jobs.”

“We must regulate facial recognition software before it has an irreversible impact on the personal lives of all of us,” she is quoted saying.

In other news, Dolan has hired a former White House communications director to help him strategize his message. Hope Hicks worked for President Donald Trump.

Everyone knows how that turned out.

Article Topics

biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  facial recognition  |  New York City  |  regulation