Mayor of New York City Zohran Mamdani has criticized the owner of Madison Square Garden, one of the city’s largest entertainment venues, arguing that the company’s surveillance technology should not be allowed.
Mamdani told Wired in an interview on Tuesday that surveillance technologies are “indicative of much that is wrong in our country today.” He added that City Council member Shahana Hanif introduced pieces of local legislation aimed at banning the collection of biometric data, such as using facial recognition, in public places across the city. Mamdani said that the draft legislation is “an important response to this kind of an issue.”
The comments come after a stream of reporting from Wired detailing how Madison Square Garden’s owner James Dolan relies on surveillance cameras and face-scanning technology to track people across and outside of its venues…