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Attorney Kelly Conlon recently accompanied her daughter on a Girl Scout field trip to Radio City Music Hall. They were there to watch the Christmas Spectacular. Instead of seeing the Rockettes, Conlon entered a situation like something from the Twilight Zone or Black Mirror.
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Security pulled Conlon aside, asked for her ID, and informed her she couldn’t get in. Facial Recognition Technology identified her as an employee of a law firm embroiled in a legal battle with Madison Square Garden (MSG) Entertainment, the company that owns the famous venue.
“It was pretty simultaneous, I think, to me, going through the metal detector,” Conlon told NBC New York, “that I heard over an intercom or loudspeaker. I heard them say a woman with long dark hair and a gray scarf.”
Conlon said the guards told her they knew she was an attorney as an explanation for booting her from the event. But while she is employed by the New Jersey law firm Davis, Saperstein and Salomon — which NBC NY reports has been entangled with MSG for years over a personal injury case that occurred in an eaterie owned by the company — Conlon said she’s “not an attorney that works on any cases against MSG” and doesn’t even practice in New York.
Conlon’s ejection wasn’t the act of overly conscientious guards. It was in line with MSG Entertainment’s policies. From NBC NY:
“MSG instituted a straightforward policy that precludes attorneys pursuing active litigation against the Company from attending events at our venues until that litigation has been resolved. While we understand this policy is disappointing to some, we cannot ignore the fact that litigation creates an inherently adverse environment. All impacted attorneys were notified of the policy, including Davis, Saperstein, and Salomon, which was notified twice,” a spokesperson for MSG Entertainment said in a statement.
Conlon’s experience, which she described as “mortifying,” only served to heat up the adversarial relationship between her firm and MSG Entertainment.
Sam Davis, a partner at Davis, Saperstein and Salomon, told NBC NY that his firm is going after the company’s liquor license.
“The liquor license that MSG got requires them to admit members of the public,” he said, “unless there are people who would be disruptive who constitute a security threat.” Davis also said that MSG barring Conlon from the event “under the pretext of protecting any disclosure of litigation information — is absolutely absurd.”
Facial recognition technology has been controversial due to concerns about its potential for abuse. Some studies have shown that facial recognition algorithms can produce inaccurate results, particularly for people with specific characteristics like darker skin. There are also concerns about the technology’s potential for tracking individuals without their knowledge or consent.
Additionally, there are fears that the technology could be used to target certain groups or individuals for discrimination or persecution.
Speaking to NBC NY, attorney Sam Davis was blunt: “The fact they’re using facial recognition to do this is frightening. It’s un-American to do this.”
