GoKawiilIt's no secret that publicly criticizing Madison Square Garden Entertainment CEO James Dolan might get you put on a list. Now, a leaked document reveals the company compiled a detailed dossier on activists who oppose its venues' facial recognition surveillance -- and packed those files with a startling amount of their personal information.
The alleged document, titled "Facial Recognition Activists.docx," was made public after a group of hackers published a 45GB cache of data they stole from MSG earlier in June, which leaked 26 million customer records, including contact details and biometric or facial recognition data.
The news follows an extensive Wired investigation from April that found that New York Knicks owner Dolan operates an expansive biometric surveillance network far beyond MSG's venues, which include Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall and the Beacon Theatre. The company says it uses face-scanning technology to identify potential security threats, but its biometric surveillance practices have drawn sharp criticism.
Activists, civil rights groups and public officials have long warned that the deployment of facial recognition at entertainment venues, private homes and public streets strips individuals of anonymity. By harvesting and storing a massive trove of sensitive data, these systems create digital paper trails that are highly vulnerable to security breaches.
In fact, MSG is now facing three class-action lawsuits stemming from the massive hack, according to the New York Times. The suits say the company failed to adequately protect sensitive information and are seeking damages for the breach and the risk of identity theft and privacy harm.
A representative for MSG Entertainment did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Targeting activists
According to reporting by 404 Media, which downloaded and reviewed the leaked data from the hack, the dossier tracking facial recognition critics contains private data on three activists, including their backgrounds, contact info, social media posts and follower counts.
The individuals in the document are prominent representatives of digital rights and privacy groups: Adam Schwartz, privacy litigation director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation; Albert Fox Cahn, founder of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, or STOP; and Evan Greer, director of Fight for the Future.
"Sadly, data breaches are an all-too-common feature of modern life, which is one more reason that corporations like Madison Square Garden should not harvest and hoard personal information about their customers," Schwartz wrote in an email to CNET. "Biometric surveillance like face recognition is especially dangerous, because we can't change our faces and we show them wherever we go."
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