Taylor Swift and Technology

Everyone has their guilty pleasure; be it the mellow sounds of one Mr. Lionel Richie or the heartrending lyrics passionately belted out by the gentlemen from Air Supply. Yet, most of us don’t necessarily want that kind of personal information “outed” to others. So imagine what it must have done to some poor middle-aged mom who recently took her pre-teen daughter to see Taylor Swift in concert. As said mother “got down with her bad self,” so to speak, she was blissfully unaware that her moves were being recorded and eventually held in some facial recognition database somewhere, forever a matter of record.

Though slightly exaggerated, I imagine this is what was envisioned by many a person in recent days as news emerged that those attending a Taylor Swift concert in Los Angeles during the singer’s most recent tour were tracked by facial recognition technology.

Typically used to capture images of criminals or wanted suspects attending events, facial recognition technology is commonly used both inside and outside of the Rose Bowl venue. However, in this instance, according to reports, the technology was employed to locate stalkers in attendance.

Although officials have been mum on its use, reports from Rolling Stone suggest that fans were invited to visit a pop-up booth where they could view footage of the star in behind-the-scenes moments. As the fans watched, the booth allegedly captured images of them, comparing those images with pictures held in a database of known Taylor Swift stalkers.

While there hasn’t been absolute confirmation from any of the companies alleged to be associated with the technology, the Rose Bowl did admit that it uses facial recognition technology at select events for the purpose of enhancing security.

As more and more venues embrace the technology, I’m left to wonder, hypothetically, of course, if this means folks will have to start tamping down their enthusiasm when the dudes from Air Supply come to town, for fear of being outed as their most passionate fan by way of facial recognition technology.