Image Recognition
Four of Australia’s largest sports stadiums are using facial recognition cameras to identify and track event attendees without their knowledge, according to a new investigation that found Australian venues have joined a growing and controversial overseas trend. Sydney’s Accor Stadium, Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium, Parramatta’s Commbank Stadium, and Perth’s Optus Stadium were all confirmed to not be using the technology, while the status of the technology at RAC Arena and Suncorp Stadium was unclear. Given the long history of violent confrontations at soccer matches and other sporting events, venues around the world have adopted facial recognition technologies – which use highly optimised AI algorithms to analyse live video streams of crowds – to pick out banned fans, known stalkers or wanted criminals. The company “does not collect biometric data” and “does not share any such data with TEG… or any other third party entity,” a TEG spokesperson said, noting that the facial recognition data “is solely utilised for security reasons to identify any persons of interest.”Facial images, the vendors note, cannot be reconstructed from the facial data produced by the system. Earlier this year, the discovery that New York City’s iconic Madison Square Garden (MSG) had used facial recognition technology – in this case, to identify and eject lawyers representing clients that were suing the venue – sparked an uproar as dozens of other venues were soon found to be using facial recognition technology for purposes as varied as ticketing and identifying unwanted spectators.