Big Brother is coming to the footy

cleomenes

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I see on the AFL website the spruiking of new technology in ticketing to spy on fans and swamp them with advertising. ( Sorry "personalize their experience"). As usual we will accept this increment to the surveillance state with our customary docility, just as we have been intimidated into the other losses of freedom in the name of security. I was surprised there was only the word security in the blurb, and no mention of terrorists or youths of African appearance.
 

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Gretel: it’s time to go...
 
May 27, 2008
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I see on the AFL website the spruiking of new technology in ticketing to spy on fans and swamp them with advertising. ( Sorry "personalize their experience"). As usual we will accept this increment to the surveillance state with our customary docility, just as we have been intimidated into the other losses of freedom in the name of security. I was surprised there was only the word security in the blurb, and no mention of terrorists or youths of African appearance.

What technology?
 

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Aug 10, 2015
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I must be thick. I'm afraid I don't get this one.
Gretel Killeen used to host a show called Big Brother and her catch phrase when booting a house mate was “it’s time to go...”
 
Jul 25, 2008
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What technology?

I have to assume it’s the article on shifting away from hard copy tickets. AFAIK the next step is microchips in merchandise like your member scarf or jumper that’ll link directly to your ticket purchase.

The OP has taken an extreme tangent with it, but it probably depends on your willingness to accept new technologies. IMO, it’s long overdue and is a simple way to minimise scalping.
 
Tickets (electronic or paper) linked to the buyers/attendees name would go a long way to reducing scalping, but facial recognition is a step too far for ticketing.
 

TimothyJ23

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Oct 24, 2015
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I'd love to know why it's so hard for someone to post the article or a link to it so we're not speculating based on the OP's opinion.

Anyway: http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-12-29/face-it-paper-tickets-for-the-footy-are-on-the-way-out


PAPER tickets are soon to be a thing of the past for football fans, with digital ticketing and facial recognition technology set to take over.

Ticketmaster, one of the AFL's ticketing partners, is planning to go 100 per cent digital over the next 12 months as it tries to create a more personalised experience for fans, as well as reduce fraud.

Fans without smartphones or a mobile device won't be excluded from attending events, with venues still able to read barcodes on non-digital tickets, while while the option to collect tickets from a box office will also remain for the time being.

In the USA, Ticketmaster is set to roll out digital tickets next year in time for the NFL season, while the technology is expected to hit Australian shores next year, mid-way through the AFL season.

"Our next generation venue access control and fan engagement platform will replace traditional, anonymous paper tickets with digital passes that will create a much more personalised experience for fans from the moment they purchase a ticket to well after an event has ended," Maria O'Connor, Ticketmaster Australia and New Zealand managing director told AFL.com.au.

"From our perspective, getting rid of the paper ticket and going 100 per cent digital unlocks a whole new world of opportunities. Delivering each ticket to a fan's smartphone means we know who the individual attendees are, not just the buyer.

"Identifying every person who enters the building not only increases security, but dramatically decreases ticketing fraud while increasing marketing potential.

"It also provides a much more engaging and personalised experience for fans. Digital tickets are much easier to forward to friends and easier to sell to other fans safely and securely through our fan-to-fan exchange, at the price paid and no more.

"We are working very hard to roll-out this technology in Australia in the second half of next year and will use venues such as Marvel Stadium and Perth's Optus Stadium for beta testing within the market."

At the moment in Australia, venues are only able to identify one in three fans that step inside their doors, but this will change as fans transition to mobile entry.

The technology is already in use at nearly 200 venues across North America and the UK.

So far more than 13 million fans have used digital tickets to enter venues with "almost zero instances of fraud", O'Connor said.

Justin Re, VP of product management at Ticketmaster North America, was a keynote speaker at the AFL Industry Fan Summit in early November and presented the concept of digital tickets to representatives of all 18 AFL clubs.

He also floated the idea of using facial recognition technology to take ticketing into the future.

Earlier this year, Ticketmaster acquired Blink Identity, a new tech startup focused on biometrics that builds facial recognition products.

Essentially, Blink Identity takes a photo and turns that into a mathematical algorithm which is then stored, while the photo is discarded.

The technology is then able to identity people in motion, which opens even more opportunities for clubs and venues to engage with fans.

"We think eventually we can get to the point where we can have marketing, engagement and sponsoring opportunities like this on your phone, based on walking through a certain section," Re said.

"We think there's a long play here, we have an iron in this fire, we are really interested to see what this does, but we will probably play around with it next year. "

"Facial recognition could be used for things like backstage credentials for artists or access to club change rooms. We are trying to think of interesting ways to employ this, so it is less invasive in areas that need high security."
 
Jul 25, 2008
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Tickets (electronic or paper) linked to the buyers/attendees name would go a long way to reducing scalping, but facial recognition is a step too far for ticketing.

Facial recognition will surely be for ejecting fans that have been unruly and to hand out bans? The league probably approached the ticket sellers and asked them to come up with a solution to that particular problem. I personally don’t see it as a problem needing a solution so I’m definitely more on the fence with that!
 

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I’m up for a good turkey slap
Good work John.
It was the guy who was a west coasts fan who created the trouble that night.
John with the frizzy hair and stuttered thoughts copped it too.



(Have a feeling it wasn’t his usual name, John, but there must have been another with his usual name do he took John, at a guess his middle name.)
 

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Kappa

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Facial recognition will get rid of the racists and ratbags from AFL games permanently, they will be so easy to track down once you catch them saying or doing something. And they can never sneak back in because their face will instantly pop up !

Plus the added benefit of simply being able to scan your phone to get into games rather than having to line up and buy a ticket

Plus the added benefit of pretty much ending fraud and illegal scalping

Plus the added benefit of being able to find out the identity of people engaging in illegal activity or thuggery.


The potential downside - You may get an ad or two on your phone when you buy the ticket? What a horrible trade off, this is truly the end of personal freedom, the Government controls our lives now.
 
Facial recognition will get rid of the racists and ratbags from AFL games permanently, they will be so easy to track down once you catch them saying or doing something. And they can never sneak back in because their face will instantly pop up !
There's no reason this can't or isn't manually already being done on an individual basis. No need to impart facial recognition on everybody for the sake of a handful of dickheads.

Also there's this part of the article's thought bubble implying facial recognition is being considered for more than security.
"marketing, engagement and sponsoring opportunities like this on your phone, based on walking through a certain section"
 
Agree with you on this cleomenes. We are giving away freedoms and individuality with little to no protest everyday.

I just don’t believe we need all this law and order surveillance. I don’t think it’s a laudable aim for the MCG or the AFL to be able to identify every person that walks into their stadium. I like that we can bend the rules a little without big brother jumping on us.

This information will be another source of guided advertisement and promotion. Sorry those above just don’t need to know this much about me.
 
I'm with the OP. Whilst I don't think it is intentional or organised by the companies involved, a system is being set up that will enable unscrupulous companies and governments to easily spy and use 'soft diplomacy' to manipulate big decisions.

And that's not to mention the loss of personal freedom and the scourge of mass marketing.
 

Kappa

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There's no reason this can't or isn't manually already being done on an individual basis. No need to impart facial recognition on everybody for the sake of a handful of dickheads.

Also there's this part of the article's thought bubble implying facial recognition is being considered for more than security.

You think it's possible to manually track 80k people at the MCG?

With facial recognition software you can instantly track all 80k and instantly be made aware if any banned people, serious criminals, or racists have come in and monitor them easily. That is terrific for Families at the Footy and completely impossible to do manually.

If you don't want the ads then don't download the app, it's pretty simple.
 
Jun 6, 2016
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Facial recognition will surely be for ejecting fans that have been unruly and to hand out bans? The league probably approached the ticket sellers and asked them to come up with a solution to that particular problem. I personally don’t see it as a problem needing a solution so I’m definitely more on the fence with that!

I think it's more to reduce fraud Scodog, as far as ejecting unruly or drunk patrons they've got that pretty well covered as it is. In particular patrons aren't putting up with BS anymore and I'm pretty sure at most venues you can txt to a number that can deal with rowdy, offensive or even threatening dick heads.
 
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