Lawyers banned by Madison Square Garden found their way home

Mr Noren fears, he said, that when he now goes to events at MSG sites, his face will still be tracked and his behavior closely watched.

Woodrow Hartzog, a law professor at Boston University, predicts that as more cases emerge involving companies that scan their customers’ faces, people will play “Whac-a-Mole,” seeking among the old laws to protect themselves. Professor Hartzog said facial recognition technology should be banned because although it could be used in beneficial ways, to detect security threats, for example, it would inevitably also be used in improper ways.

“A habitual bad fan can be spotted almost instantly,” he said. “But in every world where that’s true, it’s also true that people in power can use facial recognition to spot anyone who criticizes them or anyone they don’t like, and so that power can be used indiscriminately against all of us.”

Alan Greenberg is a fan of Jerry Seinfeld. He also represents, through his firm Greenberg Law PC, a fan who sued Madison Square Garden after he was assaulted at a Rangers game. This meant that it might be difficult for him to attend a Seinfeld show at the Beacon Theater, which is owned by MSG Entertainment. He took legal action and therefore had a preliminary injunction in hand when he attended the show – but he also grew a beard in an attempt to evade facial recognition.

Lawyers may not be the friendliest victims, and their need for entertainment may not be the most compelling cause. But their fate, Mr. Greenberg said, should raise alarm bells about how the use of this technology could spread. Companies, for example, can turn people away based on their political ideology, comments they’ve made online, or who they work for.

“Lawyers may not be the most privileged class,” he said, “but it could be extended to any other category of individuals.”