Campaign to ban facial recognition at live events asks artists, venues & fans to pledge support

A coalition of musicians, fans, and human rights groups have convinced 40 of the world’s largest music festivals, including Bonnaroo, Bottle Rock, Bumpersoot, and Coachella, to pledge not to use facial recognition at events. But now use of the tech is expanding as a surveillance tool as well as for ‘paperless’ ticketing and payment.

Groups fighting facial recognition and biometric palm scanning at live events cite privacy concerns and potential overreach.

Police have used facial recognition to identify and target participants at Black Lives Matter protests, and Madison Square Garden has openly used it to detect and ban organizers and lawyers suing the facility for the use of the technology.

Ticketmaster partnered with the facial recognition company Wicket to test facial recognition ticketing at several venues, and promoter AEG sought to experiment with biometric palm scanning as a ticketing option at venues in Colorado, including the famed Red Rocks Amphitheater.

The Fight For The Future campaign is asking artists, venues, and fans to sign separate pledges that call for a ban on facial recognition at live public events.

“We want everyone to feel safe and welcome at shows,” reads the Artist’s pledge, “so we commit to not allow venues to use invasive surveillance tech like facial recognition at shows we play by updating our rider to require this or boycotting venues that won’t accommodate this request.”

More information and each of the pledges can be found here.

Bruce Houghton is the Founder and Editor of Hypebot and MusicThinkTank, a Senior Advisor at Bandsintown, President of the Skyline Artists Agency, and a professor for the Berklee College Of Music.