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Disney has been sued for deploying facial recognition technology at park entrances to verify tickets.
A class action accuses the entertainment giant of violating privacy, competition and consumer protection laws by implementing the technology at Disneyland, where photographs of guests’ faces are taken and compared with images when they first used the ticket or annual pass.
The company “does not adequately disclose the use of their biometric collection, so consumers – which almost always include children – have no idea that Disney is collecting this highly sensitive data,” reads the complaint, filed in California federal court on Friday.
The lawsuit challenges a trend spreading across major sports and entertainment venues of using facial recognition to prevent fraud, heighten safety and facilitate purchases. Sports stadiums lean on it to streamline entry; theme parks utilize it to manage crowd flow; and security for some musicians rely on it to identify stalkers. But mass adoption of the technology has sparked some concern over the specter of a privatized surveillance state and the commercialization of sensitive personal information. Madison Square Garden uses it to ban entry for the “enemies” of its owner, James Dolan. There have also been instances of companies turning over biometric data to law enforcement.
