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Two baseball fans have filed class action lawsuits against the Chicago Cubs, claiming the Major League Baseball team has used illegal facial recognition technology during games since 2021. Blue Star Security and Security Services Holdings, which does business as Protos Security, are also named in the suits.
Gabriel Berta and Jill Lichte of Illinois each filed separate class action lawsuits, two days apart, in the U.S District Court Northern District of Illinois. Each plaintiff accuses the Chicago Cubs and their security contractors of violating the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). Berta says he attended a Cubs game at Wrigley Field on July 4, while Lichte said she attended Cubs games on May 25 and Aug. 17.
“The Chicago Cubs unlawfully surveil guests to Wrigley Field; and, for both visitor and employee protection, use a complex apparatus consisting of software, employee training and hardware,” Berta’s lawsuit claims. “Wrigley Field deploys mass surveillance inclusive of facial recognition.”
Lichte’s complaint also alleges the Cubs organization committed “unlawful collection, retention, storage and use of Plaintiff and Class members’ biometric identifiers and biometric information without obtaining informed written consent or providing consumers with data retention and destruction policies. Specifically, the Chicago Cubs collect biometric identifiers and biometric identifiers from the guests who attend Chicago Cubs games at the historic Wrigley Field located in the Wrigleyville neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois.”
The lawsuits also claim that the Cubs’ alleged “secretive collection, retention and use of biometric information demonstrates that the defendants violate Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act — which protects against deceptive and unfair trade practices.” In addition to that, violations of the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act and “unjust enrichment” are also alleged.
Do the Chicago Cubs use facial recognition technology on fans?
A 2023 article on Blue Star Security’s website, cited in the lawsuits, mentions how the company “meticulously [crafts] strategies to handle the unique security issues posed by sporting events in large stadiums, such as Chicago Cubs games at the iconic Wrigley Field.”
In the article, Blue Star also discusses how “advanced technologies such as CCTV cameras and facial recognition software are utilized to monitor the movements of attendees and identify potential security threats.”
The lawsuits also quote Doug Lindsay, the Cubs’ vice president of security, who said “in the past, our security team would have a bunch of different platforms up concurrently. They’d have to know how to find information quickly. On a busy game day, when (we are) managing many different situations, that’s hard work. With (Genetec) Security Center, all that information is coming into one platform, so they can see what’s happening and focus exclusively on the tasks at hand. We’re definitely seeing a higher level of efficiency across our team.”
The Chicago Cubs responded to the lawsuit by stating they “do not use this technology and these allegations are false” and “will vigorously defend ourselves against these claims.”
The lawsuits are seeking a court order requiring compliance with BIPA regulations, as well as damages which they stated would exceed $5 million. In reality, considering the Chicago Cubs have sold over 10 million tickets since 2022, damages could end up being hundreds of millions.