Maryland MLB stadium leads off with mDL age verification for alcohol sales

Major League Baseball fans attending games at Oriole Park at Camden Yards can now use their Maryland mobile driver’s licenses (mDLs) for age verification, and their adoption will be closely watched in a social environment where fans are worried about surveillance.

The Baltimore Orioles are out of the playoff race, but supporters toasting their season’s conclusion can purchase alcohol from 31 vendors using age verification with Maryland Mobile ID, The Southland Maryland Chronicle reports. The retail purchase points accepting Maryland mDLs include some with self-checkout kiosks.

Age verification with the ISO/IEC 18013-5 compliant mDLs works in seconds, does not disclose the bearer’s birth date or other personal information, and cannot be tracked by the business.

Developed by Thales Digital Identity and Security, Maryland’s state digital IDs have been gaining traction in the wake of launching a free app at the end of last year for businesses to verify them, with a major outdoor concert venue among the latest relaying parties to adopt mDLs for age verification.

Surveillance sparks suspicion

The embrace of technology for fan convenience will not be widely cheered, or even used, if big league sports teams gain a reputation for digital surveillance.

The Chicago Cubs are alleged in two separately-filed lawsuits to have used facial recognition from Protos subsidiary Blue Star Security to process their biometric data, violating Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act. The two cases, with named plaintiffs Gabriel Berta and Jill Lichte, were consolidated by a court order on Friday, Front Office Sports reports.

A representative of the ballclub denied that its security camera system uses biometrics.

The impetus for the lawsuits seems to be a blog post on Blue Star’s website that notes “(a)dvanced technologies such as CCTV cameras and facial recognition software” as part of its “multi-faceted approach to crowd control.” The post is about the company’s work at sporting events, and mention the Cubs’ home Wrigley Field several times, but does not directly state they the technology is in use there.

Law firm Eversheds Sutherland warned last November that like BIPA, New York City’s 2021 biometric data protection law “creates significant potential exposure in the class action context.”

Eversheds Sutherland notes that a class action complaint filed last October alleges the Mets failed to inform fans that their biometrics were being collected, and also shared biometric templates with third-parties that provide security software for their home stadium, Citi Field. The complaint describes a “Do Not Admit” blacklist based on a 2018 article in Security Magazine and online testimonies.

One of the descriptions in the complaint appears to refer to the Mets’ version of Go-Ahead Entry, Mets Entry Express, which uses Wicket biometrics.

The Mets have had the suit removed to federal court, and a motion for its dismissal is now before the court. A lawsuit filed under the same law against the owner of famed Big Apple stadium Madison Square Garden was dismissed last year.

The allegations filed against the Mets suggest to the law firm that attorneys in New York are following a playbook written by their colleagues in Illinois.

Article Topics

age verification  |  digital ID  |  face biometrics  |  facial recognition  |  Maryland  |  mDL (mobile driver's license)  |  MLB Go-Ahead Entry