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MSG Made Dossier on Activists Who Opposed Facial Recognition(404media.co)
134 points by cdrnsf 3 hours ago | 26 comments
afavour 15 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Debating this specific dossier ignores the larger issue, IMO:

> MSG has deployed facial recognition technology since 2018 to identify people entering the venue. MSG’s facial recognition systems have been used to block entry to the stadium for all sorts of people. The list includes lawyers who work at law firms in litigation with MSG, even if they are not part of the litigation themselves; and potentially a man who once made a shirt that criticized Dolan.

> The document was included in a 45GB cache of data hackers stole from MSG and posted online this month

MSG management is not only misusing facial recognition data, they're also so inept as to store it insecurely in a way that violates their own customer's privacy.

We need laws around this stuff. And in the meantime NYC should start playing hardball: if they're going to arbitrarily block people from entering MSG based on corporate vendetta then they need to lose their tax exemption (well, they should anyway...)

https://reinventalbany.org/2023/02/watchdog-supports-state-b...

Cider9986 8 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Related:

The Shocking Secrets of Madison Square Garden’s Surveillance Machine: https://www.wired.com/story/madison-square-garden-jim-dolan-...

Archive/paywall: https://archive.ph/iiczs

Post on the MSG data breach: https://www.404media.co/hackers-publish-knicks-and-madison-s...

Shinyhunters website: http://shnyhntww34phqoa6dcgnvps2yu7dlwzmy5lkvejwjdo6z7bmgshz...

xrd 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Please watch/listen to the Pablo Torre podcast about this one for additional context:

https://www.pablo.show/p/inside-james-dolans-deep-state?utm_...

If you don't know, Pablo recently won a Pulitzer for his reporting on Steve Balmer's deal with Aspiration. If you listened only to mainstream media, you would think "Poor Steve, he was duped!" But, Pablo's reporting might change your opinion on that one.

The incredible volume of high quality, well researched shows are so refreshing as an antidote to Joe Rogan and Theo Vaughn, who seem to come into every interview with just the right amount of ignorance to let every guest spew whatever propaganda they want. Pablo never lets that happen.

zulux an hour ago | parent [-]

Aspiration?

xrd 13 minutes ago | parent [-]

Oops, yes, correct!

emsign 24 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

List of Honor. I'm grateful these brave people exist.

adolph an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

  In each section, the document includes background information on the 
  activist, their contact information if available, their social media handles 
  and follower count, then quotes each have previously said about MSG’s facial 
  recognition program. 
This seems like a pretty normal thing to do. If anything its kind of quaint to see “Facial Recognition Activists.docx” . . . in a folder named “Activists" instead of plugging it into a repurposed CRM with built-in social media monitoring, or maybe an electronic Evidence Board in Foundry to tie back EFF donations to season ticket holders of various things. Maybe they do all that too, or maybe the event venue management doesn't care that much.
newaccountman2 16 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

"This seems like a pretty normal thing to do." - adolph

(relevant username)

2d8a875f-39a2-4 an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Yeah, not much to see here. Each of the activists named likely had a similar "dossier" on MSG and the Dolan guy. Knowledge workers are going to practise knowledge management. People use to do this with a Rolodex.

1attice an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

"Normal" here requires a time bound. I would say it's pretty abnormal if the window is "the last thirty years", and pretty normal if it's "the last thirty days."

Because of the thing.

wbl an hour ago | parent [-]

Dolan is known for being extra petty.

esseph 37 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> This seems like a pretty normal thing to do.

That is NOT normal.

darth_avocado 17 minutes ago | parent [-]

Not the one to make this discourse Reddit like but I do find the username pretty unfortunate for the comment.

GuinansEyebrows an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> This seems like a pretty normal thing to do

sorry to the rest of the esteemed hn community for the low-effort reply, but... gross.

zulux an hour ago | parent [-]

We have a document detailing our competitors. So I guess I have to ask...

Am I normal?

afavour 17 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

If your document details personal information about your competitors employees and their personal contact details then I think the situation might be comparable.

And very much not normal.

Catloafdev 15 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

You think having a document detailing competitors is the same thing as compiling personal information of people who have publicly commented against what you're doing?

The sandbagging on this story is crazy.

ramon156 43 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Do those documents detail personal information, like face identification, family, etc.?

Its usually about the company, not the individual

Spooky23 17 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Competitive intelligence and customer info is one thing. Do you block your business competitors associates and family from accessing public venues?

Dolan does.

chasd00 36 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

when i'm doing large presentations to prospective clients my company gives me what they call a "look book". This is a deck with information about every person in the audience all the way down to personality traits, triggering words/phrases, and negotiating style. I think it's pretty normal.

esseph 35 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

Some of you run in dark circles, and this is coming from a guy who got paid to kill people.

Catloafdev 43 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

Crazy to see this attempt to be normalized here.

No. No, this is not normal.

smallerize 39 minutes ago | parent [-]

People are making a concerted effort to force your business to do something, and you don't want to know their names or how much influence they actually have?

nla 44 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

In NYC, you can trespass anyone from a private business at any time and for no reason at all.

NY Penal Law § 140.00 says a person in premises open to the public is there with license/privilege unless they defy a lawful order not to enter or remain, personally communicated by the owner or another authorized person.

So, in plain English:

“You have to leave. You are not allowed back.”

The owner does not need to say: “You have to leave because…”

There was a ton of hoopla around this when Radio City and MSG trespassed lawyers that were suing the company and venues.

Everyone was up in arms and nothing happened.

dec0dedab0de 35 minutes ago | parent [-]

i don’t think anyone is claiming it is illegal

Spooky23 10 minutes ago | parent [-]

It’s billionaire people pushing the bounds of their enclosure, Jurassic Park style. The similar behavior in the west coast are the people who create various hoops to deny the public access to the shore.

NYC grants significant concessions to developers in exchange for public access. It’s important to overreact and push back to every incursion into the public sphere as every incremental pushback of public benefit is cumulative over time.

Manhattan in particular is a precious resource that is already largely a playground for the rich. Normal people used to live there.