Facial recognition technology is not being welcomed by musicians. More than 100 musicians — the list includes Rage Against the Machine co-founders Tom Morello and Zack de la Rocha, and Boots Riley — have announced that they won’t agree to any concert venue that uses facial recognition technology because it violates one’s privacy.
The technology at concert venues was in the news last year when security guards barred Kelly Conlon, a lawyer and his daughter, from attending a concert at Radio Music Hall after MSG Entertainment came up with an exclusion list that can be deployed using facial recognition.
The boycott by the musicians has been organised by the digital rights advocacy group Fight for the Future. “Surveillance tech companies are pitching biometric data tools as ‘innovative’ and helpful for increasing efficiency and security. Not only is this false, it’s morally corrupt,” Leila Nashashibi, campaigner at Fight for the Future, said in a statement.
Facial recognition technology is mostly accurate and surveillance tech companies are pitching biometric data tools as ‘innovative’. The technology has been in use for a few years, like at the US Open finals in New York's Flushing Meadows in 2018 where it was used to find people who were transmitting data from the venue to scam betting services. In Britain, many shops are deploying the technology and one of the popular companies helping retailers is Facewatch, which claims that the total UK retail crime losses last year were pegged at £4.8 billion and 93 per cent of theft has gone unreported.