Taylor Swift Used Facial Recognition Tech At Concerts To Spy On Stalkers (boingboing.net)

AmiMoJo shares a report: Taylor Swift used facial recognition technology at her live performances so that technicians running the system could then check those face scans against a private database of her stalkers. There is now big demand for serious security at live events the size of a Taylor Swift concert. There have been so many bombings and mass shootings at music concerts over the past year to even remember without Googling. Fear of being killed at a music concert is something people factor in to the decision to buy tickets and go to live events. The demand for security is real.

Comments

Not spying if there's consent

[mveloso]

To get into a concert you have to agree to their ToS, which explicitly allows them to record/capture images and likenesses.

It's not spying if you consent.

She really does have criminal level stalkers

[Koreantoast]

To be fair to Swift, she really does have some crazy stalkers, including people who break into her home and take naps in her living room, harass her family, and legal restraining order type of crazy. Concerts are one of the few openings they have where they can try to get close, so these systems are probably being used for that specific slice of risk. Yes, they can check at the door, but given that many have resorted to criminal actions to try and get close, it wouldn't be surprising if some tried to sneak in through other means. It is after all a private event, private venue, with video consent already given.

That said, it's still creepy, and given how the Chinese have used the system to sweep up enemies of the state, I'm not sure I feel comfortable with this.