Facial Recognition Technology at Music Festivals – Benefit or Invasion?
5th March 2021
What is Facial Recognition Technology?
Facial Recognition Technology (FRT) is a way of identifying an individual’s identity using their face. Music festival goers can be identified through photos, videos and even in real time.
FRT is a type of bio-metric security that uses points on the face to recognise biological characteristics.
What information can this technology obtain?
This technology can use your facial characteristics to determine your age, gender, ethnicity, and your emotional responses.
At music festivals it can be used for …
- Security and safety: FRT has already been used at music festivals to deal with security and safety issues.
- Gathering marketing data: Crowd analytics scans faces for data such as age and gender.
- Shorter queues: Automated check-in at event entry point.
- Cashless payments: Scanning your face at entry enables cashless payments for convenience.
Did you know…?
FRT can also be used to track your emotions, gauge customer satisfaction and emotional responses at music festivals.
Does this belong at Music Festivals?
FRT is just starting to make its way into music festivals but is this something you, as music festival goers, should be embracing? Or should you be concerned?
When you attend music festivals, it’s a time to let your hair down and be free. The last thing you want is to be worrying about being watched or have your facial data used for many other purposes that you may not expect…
FRT has the power to destroy your privacy and may change people’s behaviour as they could be conscious of being watched.
FRT also raises legitimate concerns of invasion of privacy and civil liberties. Is this really something you want when attending music festivals?
Benefits vs Invasion
How can this benefit you as a music festival goer, being watched and analysed when you are supposed to be relaxed and having fun?
Cyber hacking with FRT
Could you be cyber hacked? How secure is this data?
There is a risk of cyber hacking, modern FRT systems can be fooled and identities can be falsely utilised; FRT today is more “spoofable” than fingerprint biometrics.
Is the data gathered stored securely enough or could your facial characteristics be stolen like your credit card details? For now, it is uncertain whether the policies and legal framework around FRT provide adequate assurance regarding security of data.
How do you feel about the use of FRT at music festivals? Would you be as free as you’d like? Or are you always being being watched?
Place your vote on the poll and comment your thoughts below.
[crowdsignal poll=10766662]
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Hi Ryan, thank you for engaging with our blog. We are glad to see you enjoyed it! Have you taken part in our poll? If not, let us know your thoughts.
Great read, really interesting to see both perspectives!
Hi Sam, thank you for your feedback! We are glad you enjoyed reading about this topic. Why not take part in our poll? Let us know your thoughts.
I find this blog really interesting and maybe a sign of things to come . There are pros and cons but I feel in the world we live in public safety is of paramount importance perhaps this is a good way of improving safety . Will this process push up the price of festivals ? Meaning that possibly some of the target market wouldn’t be able to afford to go .
Hi Judy, thank you very much for your comment, it is great that this blog has become very interactive! You make an interesting point regarding public safety in the world today, as you say it is definitely important. We believe that the costing would be with the event organisers regarding the instillation, however it is a good question to ask as to whether this would be a VIP option for attendees meaning that they could possibly pay more for these ticket types. We are pleased you enjoyed reading the blog, if you haven’t already make sure you take part in our poll as your contributions have been extremely insightful!
Really interesting to read about how this type of technology could be integrated into festivals. Definitely raises some questions about personal privacy and data security.
Hi Paris, thank you for your contribution! What are your thoughts regarding privacy and data security? Would you be concerned or would it not affect your experience?
As a festival goer, I can see the benefits of not having to carry cash and remember having to bring tickets etc, my concern would be with my data being misused. I don’t really think it’d affect my experience during the time, but potentially could impact my opinion on whether I’d be willing to attend again if there was a security breach or data leak etc.
That is a really interesting point about the potential after effects of Facial Recognition Technology! It has been great to discuss this topic with you.
It’s an interesting concept. However, not one I’d personally like to see become a reality for festivals. Facial recognition technology is something I avoid where I can. It’s becoming more easy than ever for cyber criminals to steal personal information and it makes me wonder how this sort of data could be used for identity theft or other types of crime. For me the safety risks involved drastically outweigh the minor inconveniences saved by this technology.
Hi James, thank you so much for taking the time to contribute to our blog! You provide a great insight to the negative effects of FRT. Would the introduction of FRT at festivals affect your attendance? Or would it be something you are just concerned about?
Personally, after reading this I believe that facial recognition shouldn’t be allowed at festivals. I agree there are many pros to the idea like it states less queuing, your face is the ticket, but on the opposite side many people are under the influence at festivals and they might not want to be watched during this as this is there time to relax and enjoy themselves especially if the footage gets hacked then their data isn’t safe. Although, overall I really enjoyed reading this article it has really opened my eyes to what could be coming to festivals in the future.
Hi Lauren, thank you for your contribution to the blog! Even though you believe FRT doesn’t belong at festivals, it is great to see you have considered both perspectives. We are glad to have opened your eyes to these contemporary issues. Thank you again for your input!
An interesting article. Sid should definitely take up golf! However, as long as the festival are clear on their policies around what they will do with FRS is it any worse than cookies? If you allow the consumer to EASILY access the permissions this should help and why worry about anything else? Surely there are greater risks in walking down the street with the myriad of CCTV cameras around? If you have nothing to hide you will be fine, it’s not like the majority of festival goers don’t post most of their experience on social media…
We are glad to see you enjoyed our video, perhaps you are a golf lover and a festival lover! Regarding your comment on cookies, this is a great thought as this technology is used daily basis with mobile phones etc. As a group we question whether this would affect the experience at the festival itself as it is a new technology and we don’t know how consumers would react. After all, events are supposed to be an escape from the everyday normality so would this prohibit this escape?
An amazingly well-written article, very thought-provoking.
Hi Britney! Thank you for your contribution, we are glad to see this blog has got you thinking about this topic! Why not contribute your thoughts to our poll if you haven’t already?
This is just another ploy by Bill Gates to control us all!
Hi Chris, thank you for your comment, do you fear this technology may compromise your personal security or would you be worried about how secure your data is being held? Thank you again for your contribution.
A very interesting read, I personally think this is a great idea , especially the idea for cashless payments which would be ideal going forward following the pandemic, I think that technology is becoming increasingly important in everyday life so being in this climate it would be ideal. Fewer queues and quicker entry would ultimately lead to customer satisfaction in my opinion!
Hi Holly, thank you for reading our blog and contributing in our comment section! It is great to see your opinion on FRT at festivals and interesting you mention how it would benefit your experience.
A couple of comments if I may. About the article itself: I read it as being biased and felt that we were being led to answer the way that the writer wanted us to, for that reason I very nearly didn’t complete the survey and this may influence people’s responses. If you wish to lead people in a certain direction, it must be more subtle than this and there is a question to be answered as to whether or not the writer should lead responses – it depends on your angle and what you want to get out of it.
The issue of facial recognition definitely has some strong pros and cons, if perhaps they could use it and then immediately discard those faces after the gig that are not required for criminal/terrorist issues this may be better but how someone would manage this and if the public could trust that it would be done is another matter. I do not agree that people’s faces should be used for any other reason that this without explicit and specific consent. I voted no, but I am all for national security so may be persuaded to change that view on further consideration.
Hi Sally! Thank you for commenting on our blog, you provide a lot of insight to consider. We did talk about the positives and negatives of FRT. However, the negatives are sometimes hidden regarding new technology therefore we wanted to ensure both sides were shown. We are glad you voted in our poll thank you for your great contribution!
Great read & idea, however I have
Mixed feelings about FRT as your face could be used in the wrong circumstances i.e stolen identity.
Hi Wendy, Thank you so much for your contribution! It is great to see you are considering both perspectives, would your concerns in FRT prevent you from attending festivals that use this technology in the future?
Very nice ideas here great to get us thinking in a forward manor!
Hi, Thank you for your contribution! It’s great to see you enjoyed our blog. Have you come to a conclusion as to whether FRT belongs at Music Festivals? Why not take part in our poll if you haven’t already?
It’s got it’s advantages such as: great to track criminals/ security for keeping public safe!
Disadvantage: Not great to have your face on record for anyone to get hold of for fraud!
Hi JP, thank you for your contribution to our blog! Also thank you for providing your input to some of the pros and cons of FRT. Do the cons outweigh the pros in your opinion or would this not effect your experience at music festivals?
I think facial recognition technology could have its place at events. The benefits highlighted are clear and the use of FRT to speed up entry and purchasing is a great idea (other than how much more as a consumer I would spend/drink). The only thing I would be very wary of is privacy issues in relation to security as there have been attempts in China for example to use this as a method of control. Obviously that is the extreme end but a festival is a place where people are supposed to be able to relax.
Hi Ollie, thank you very much for your comment, your views are very similar to Sids haha :). If this technology was introduced at music festivals would it affect your attendance?
Really interesting to see both sides, but I actually think that a couple of the cons could be seen as pros too… for example storing facial recognition could be used for future festival access; and less human interaction will obviously reduce queues and speed up entry process, also be able to be used for international guests not speaking English, or even could’ve been used in the pandemic for hygiene and safety purposes (which still may be beneficial to maintain that level of health and safety in future to prevent infection spreading)
Hi Onique, thank you for your contribution to our blog. It is interesting to see you have turned some of the cons into pros. Also thank you for providing other possible pros of the technology (International Attendees). It is great to see you have viewed this topic critically and the blog has made you consider the pros and cons of FRT. To conclude, would the introduction of FRT at music festivals affect your attendance? It would be great to see your final thoughts.
Really interesting to see both sides, but I actually think that a couple of the cons could be seen as pros too… for example storing facial recognition could be used for future festival access; and less human interaction will obviously reduce queues and speed up entry process, also be able to be used for international guests not speaking English, or even could’ve been used in the pandemic for hygiene and safety purposes (which still may be beneficial to maintain that level of health and safety in future to prevent infection spreading)
Hi Onique, thank you for your contribution to our blog. It is interesting to see you have turned some of the cons into pros. Also thank you for providing other possible pros of the technology (International Attendees). It is great to see you have viewed this topic critically and the blog has made you consider the pros and cons of FRT. To conclude, would the introduction of FRT at music festivals affect your attendance? It would be great to see your final thoughts.
I am still undecided about the use of FRT at festivals. Whilst it appears a quick and easy way to gain entry to the event, part of the experience of going is having the ticket and wrist band as lasting memories after the he event.
Hi Liz, thank you very much for your comment, you raise an interesting point regarding the ticket/ wrist band being part of the experience and is sometimes kept as memorabilia of the festival. Would the introduction of FRT at festivals affect your attendance?