Want to See the Ball Game? Scan Your Iris First
Want to See the Ball Game? Scan Your Iris First
Fingerprint biometrics ease stadium lines for select fans
Teams use data to boost revenue, triggering privacy concerns
by Alan Levin and Jonathan Levin December 28, 2016, 2:00
AM PST
Lazaro Torres, a die-hard Miami Heat fan, was scurrying
to reach his seat before tip-off one night last month when he hit an
all-too-common roadblock:
Two dozen fans stirring impatiently in the security-check
line. Not a problem. He slid into a special entrance line, laid two fingers on
a print scanner and, with the Heat's rapid blessing, cruised into the arena.
"It's been great," Torres, a 43-year-old
season-ticket holder, said of the service, known as Clear, which offers
queue-skipping privileges for six U.S. sports teams including New York's
Yankees and Mets baseball franchises. His interview was necessarily brief.
"I'm running a little late."
Attending a game used to be a low-tech pleasure: Buy a
ticket and grab a bleacher seat.
Now, with metal detectors and bag checks standard at
almost all major sporting venues, companies have begun offering biometric and
other tools to create the equivalent of express security lanes like those in
airports. Those fingerprints and iris scans also allow teams to track fans' behavior
and purchasing habits, helping them rake in more revenue and fatten profits
while triggering at the same time the privacy concerns that dog this sort of
technology in other parts of the economy.
Clear, owned by Alclear LLC, also provides similar security
services at 16 airports, where passengers can get fast-tracked for $179 a year.
At stadiums, teams pay a licensing fee and fans nothing.
Other companies offer streamlining at stadiums and other
venues to government-vetted members of PreCheck, the Transportation Security
Administration's service for airline travelers. And Walt Disney Co. theme parks
offer expedited fingerprint-based identity scanning to customers who've bought
certain passes.
Security advocates and the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security have been calling for stronger protection at large gatherings since
the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist strikes. Attacks such as the Boston Marathon
bombings in 2013 that killed three people added urgency, said Lou Marciani,
director of the National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security at the
University of Southern Mississippi.
"Between training and processes and technology, we
are trying our darnedest to harden arenas and marathons and high school
sports," Marciani said.
Airport Ambiance
Safran SA's MorphoTrust USA Inc. signs up travelers for
the TSA's PreCheck program, which entitles passengers to five years of
streamlined airport screening after submitting to a background check, providing
biometric data and paying $85. Since last year, MorphoTrust has been funneling
PreCheck members into express security lanes at concerts under a contract with
promoter Live Nation Entertainment Inc., said Charles Carroll, senior vice
president for identity services.
Short lines are less attractive to terrorists, who have
detonated bombs in nonsecure areas such as the outer lobby of the Brussels
airport on March 22.
And just as the TSA offers lighter security for PreCheck
members -- allowing them to leave liquids and laptops in bags, for example --
MorphoTrust hopes by next year to offer sports fans similar perks.
"It will radically change how people enter sporting
events," Carroll said.
The increased monitoring raises broad issues about
privacy in the digital age, according to Jennifer Lynch, a senior staff
attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit civil liberties
group. Fans seeking convenience may not understand the risks of having their
whereabouts tracked or of the consequences if a company's information is hacked
or stolen, she said.
"I find this incredibly shocking," Lynch said.
"It appears to be the very beginning of a very large tracking
program."
Fan Data
So far, such concerns haven't been reported by the
companies and teams using the services. In fact, teams hoping to improve
security controls over employees have also begun using advanced screening.
Iris-scanning equipment developed by EyeLock LLC is being
used by the NBA's Indiana Pacers at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis,
and by the University of Houston's football program. It controls entry for
employees and players, said Anthony Antolino, the company's chief marketing
officer.
All major U.S. leagues, including baseball, football,
basketball and hockey, have stepped up security checks in recent years,
according to team and league policies.
"We have found it to be a real challenge," said
Jason Pearl, senior vice president of business development for the San
Francisco Giants baseball team. "We have only so many entrances to the
ball park."
The Giants in 2014 became the first team to use Clear to
ease lines. More recently, the team has begun using Clear's data to track its
customers.
"When are people showing up?" Pearl said.
"What games are in the most demand? Who is using it?"
Expanding Clear so its data can be used in marketing is a
growth strategy, said chairman and chief executive officer Caryn
Seidman-Becker. The company has 750,000 members and offers such services as
paperless biometric boarding passes for flights and access to airport
frequent-flier lounges, Seidman-Becker said. She declined to provide usage
numbers for the sports program, or to describe how it checks members'
backgrounds.
For the Heat, it's just a niche market for now.
At its Nov. 26 game against the Memphis Grizzlies, the
few dozen people who used one of two Clear lanes at AmericanAirlines Arena
represented a fraction of the 19,600 in attendance. And not all those stuck in
the security line seemed to mind. One guy, curiously enough, even seemed to
enjoy it.
"Lines are fine," said Spencer Jolly, 31, a
probation officer visiting from Georgia. "I get to see people I never see,
and get ready for the experience."
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