We know that Taylor Swift can go to extreme lengths to keep her privacy (the suitcase thing), but this is really intense!
Taylor is apparently using facial recognition at her concerts to track down potential stalkers.
As Rolling Stone reported, during a Pasadena concert, kiosks were disguised a facial-recognition cameras, held inside an activation that displayed highlights from her Reputation tour rehearsals.
This show took place on May 18, where Tay Tay took the stage alongside Shawn Mendes in front of 60,000 fans (as she wrote on her Instagram).
A concert-security expert attended the concert to see a demo of the system, as he was a guest of the manufacturer of the kiosks, and he spoke to Rolling Stone about the purpose of the system.
As soon as any concertgoer would step into the booth, their photo was taken.\\\, and simultaneously transferred to a “command post” which was in Nashville to be “cross-referenced with a database of hundreds of the pop star’s known stalkers.”
Taylor’s representatives did not respond to Rolling Stone‘s request for comment.
SCARY!
The Verge has pointed out that out that technically, it is within Taylor and the venue’s right to go to these security lengths, as the concert is considered a private event.
However, to use the technology without concertgoers consent does raise a lot of concern regarding their privacy.
This kind of software is actually on the rise, as The Verge and Rolling Stone both report.
Ticketmaster recently invested in a startup called Blink Identity, which uses technology that can identify people walking past — which is likely to “help fans move through turnstiles more efficiently,” Rolling Stone reports.
Ticketmaster told RS, “We’re just being very careful about where and how we implement it.”