Is Madison Square Garden’s owner treating his venues like a high-stakes game of "I Spy," using surveillance tech to track visitors with a level of intensity usually reserved for missing socks?
Mamdani takes aim at Madison Square Garden’s surveillance tech, where the cameras may know your face
Madison Square Garden has long been known for spotting stars. Now, Mayor Zohran Mamdani is criticizing the venue owner’s use of surveillance technology that can identify visitors, whether or not they came to be recognized.
In a recently published interview, Mamdani called surveillance technology “indicative of much that is wrong in our country today.” He praised two proposed City Council bills, that would ban the collection of biometric data, including facial recognition, in public places.
The proposals follow reports alleging that Madison Square Garden owner James Dolan’s company uses cameras and face-scanning technology to track people at and beyond its venues. One report said the company’s database labeled some visitors, including celebrity performers, as “LGBTQIA,” for reasons that were unclear.
Madison Square Garden spokesperson claims the reporting was “inaccurate and false” and said the company was pursuing legal remedies, but did not provide evidence for the claim.
The surveillance debate has been running for years. In 2021, a woman said she was barred from Radio City Music Hall after facial recognition identified her as an attorney at a firm suing Dolan’s company, though she was not involved in the case.
New York City has required businesses to disclose when they collect visitors’ biometric data since 2021. The proposed bills would go further, potentially making it harder for a venue to remember your face, even when you’d rather it didn’t.
