Minority Report is a movie, not a guide. If you haven’t seen it, you should watch it. Great movie.
Kelly Conlon went to New York City with her daughter on a Girl Scout trip. But she couldn’t attend a Rockettes show at Radio City Music Hall because of facial recognition.
Conlon spoke to NBC New York. Insanity:
That’s because to Madison Square Garden Entertainment [MSG], Conlon isn’t just any mom. They had identified and zeroed in on her, as security guards approached her right as he got into the lobby.”It was pretty simultaneous, I think, to me, going through the metal detector, that I heard over an intercom or loudspeaker,” she told NBC New York. “I heard them say woman with long dark hair and a grey scarf.”She said she was asked her name and to produce identification.”I believe they said that our recognition picked you up,” Conlon said.
MSG manages Radio City Music Hall and produces the Christmas Spectacular, the annual musical with the Rockettes.
Security knew everything about Conlon before she even spoke to them:
Conlon is an associate with the New Jersey based law firm, Davis, Saperstein and Solomon, which for years has been involved in personal injury litigation against a restaurant venue now under the umbrella of MSG Entertainment.”I don’t practice in New York. I’m not an attorney that works on any cases against MSG,” said Conlon.But MSG said she was banned nonetheless — along with fellow attorneys in that firm and others.”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.
Sam Davis, a partner at the firm, described it as “punishment on adversaries who would dare sue MSB in their multi-billion dollar network.”
MSG has faced lawsuits over facial recognition and blacklists. Conlin cited a recent order stating “that ticketholders like her ‘may not be denied entry to any shows.'”
Conlon’s treatment motivated Davis even more to take legal action against MSG. He’s now “challenging MSG’s license with the State Liquor license.” Interesting point:
“The liquor license that MSG got requires them to admit members of the public, unless there are people who would be disruptive who constitute a security threat,” said Davis. “Taking a mother, separating a mother from her daughter and Girl Scouts she was watching over — and to do it under the pretext of protecting any disclosure of litigation information — is absolutely absurd. The fact they’re using facial recognition to do this is frightening. It’s un-American to do this.”A spokesperson for MSG reiterated in a statement that safety is their highest priority and that facial recognition is just one of the methods they use. MSG Entertainment also said it is confident their policy is in compliance with all applicable laws, including the New York State Liquor Authority.
Davis has a great point.
How can anyone justify separating a mother from her minor child and a group of Girl Scouts that she is chaperoning in one of the largest cities in the world?
Conlon behaved better than I would have in that position. I would have caused a scene and then some. You don’t get between Mama Bear and her cub.
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