Blink Identity
photo via BlinkIdentity.com

Ticketmaster & Live Nation investigating replacing tickets with facial recognition

Does facial recognition technology creep you out? Well, it’s only getting more advanced and not any less creepy. In addition to Facebook letting you know that a new picture of you may have just been posted, Ticketmaster and Live Nation are considering using the technology to eventually replace tickets. The Verge reports:

That’s the experience that Live Nation and Ticketmaster suggested they’ll try to develop last week, when announcing an investment in Blink Identity. Blink is a brand new company that claims to be able to identify people walking by in “half a second,” even if they aren’t looking straight at a camera.

“We will continue investing in new technologies to further differentiate Ticketmaster from others in the ticketing business,” Live Nation wrote in a note to investors last week. It added that Blink’s technology could let you “ associate your digital ticket with your image, then just walk into the show.”

The Verge points out that “there don’t appear to be actual plans to put this tech into place” so it may not happen anytime soon. The Verge also notes that “it’s not even clear that Blink’s tech works as effectively as the company describes.”

Facial recognition technology may also have a ways to go in general. After recently being used by police at a soccer match in Wales, it was reported to have a 90% false positive rate. Earlier this year, it was reported that Madison Square Garden has been quietly using facial recognition technology on customers, but for security reasons not ticketing reasons.