Facial recognition now part of being a fan at many stadiums
Facial recognition now part of being a fan at many stadiums
To get inside the Intuit Dome, fans have to first download an official app. The venue, south of Los Angeles, is the new home of the NBA’s Clippers as well as a concert arena. Austyn Williams, who came to see Usher perform, is up for the high-tech approach. “I’m excited. I got last-minute tickets,” Williams says.
Williams taps through the app to access his digital ticket. He also opts in to using the venue’s facial-recognition system. Williams smiles a little self-consciously and then snaps a selfie.
Stadiums across the country from New York’s Citi Field to San Diego’s Pechanga Arena are using facial-recognition technology with fans. The Intuit Dome, a new $2 billion stadium in Inglewood, California, is taking the tech further by combining it with a smartphone app — betting that people will be OK with a little more data collection.
Once Williams goes inside, the app knows all kinds of stuff about him. It could tell if he gets out of his seat and the photos he might take in the stadium. If he decides he wants a hot dog, the app is already connected to his credit card, so he could use his face to pay.
That sounds convenient to him. “I mean, there’s definitely pros and cons to it, but I do think it’s a great breakthrough,” Williams says.
That’s the upside for visitors. In trade, the venue collects a lot of data, including browsing activity and employment information. The Intuit Dome declined to give an interview but in an email said it doesn’t sell data to third parties. According to the privacy policy, it uses the personal information it collects to provide services.
“It’s no longer just a faceless ticket,” said Larry Vincent, a marketing professor at the University of Southern California.
There are some benefits for concertgoers, said Vincent, like shorter lines and less price gouging on resold tickets. But there’s a creepy factor here too. For instance, at the Intuit Dome, the system can hear how loudly fans cheer. They might be rewarded for their enthusiasm with discounts on concessions. Some visitors might find the eavesdropping invasive.
“Marketers have to really think about, ‘OK, I can do this. Should I do this?'” Vincent said. “How do I do this so that people really welcome it, rather than feeling like their personal space has been invaded when they didn’t ask for it.”
Privacy experts have a lot of concerns about all of this. Personal data could leak, and it can be shared with law enforcement. Also, studies show that facial-recognition systems have a much higher error rate for darker skin tones than lighter ones.
“The threat to privacy, it creates this additional cost to what you’re already paying,” said Emerald Tse, a lawyer and fellow at the Center on Privacy and Technology at Georgetown University. Tse’s big-picture worry is that people are increasingly desensitized to this level of surveillance and data collection.
“Then it would get harder and harder to object when this technology is implemented in more serious contexts, such as when they’re attached to essential services,” Tse said.
For some would-be concertgoers, like Wendy Anguiano, this level of data collection is a deal breaker. She doesn’t trust companies to keep her data safe or be honest about how they are using it. “We can say, this is the line I won’t cross. I will not download this app. I will not go to the Dome,” she said.
But plenty of other fans don’t seem to mind, and the Usher concert is sold out. The Dome said up to 75% of its patrons opt in to facial recognition. Including Austyn Williams, who has finished setting up the app and is ready to head into the venue and use his face as his ticket.
“It’s going to be a new experience, and we get to hear the sounds of Usher along with it,” he says.
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