Uncle Steve is Watching...

 

 NY Post

Here’s one New Yorker who is not jumping on the Mets’ bandwagon.

The team uses facial recognition technology to collect information on unsuspecting Citi Field patrons, claims Chris Dowling in a new class-action lawsuit.

Citi Field cameras “at the main fan entrance” collect “facial identifiers” from patrons as they enter the stadium, and the Mets have third parties processing the data to find people on the team’s “black list,” Dowling alleged in a Brooklyn Federal Court filing.

While the Mets have publicly acknowledged they use facial recognition for security purposes, Dowling claims they use the information gleaned “for value or profit,” which violates the New York City Biometrics Law, the suit says.

Mets fans on Reddit “have detailed the use of facial recognition by Citi Field which has been weaponized against them,” according to the lawsuit.

 “I realized it when they made me take off my hat to walk through the metal detector,” said the poster. “I was confused [because] the detector would pick up anything I am trying to hide in my hat! After the third time, I realized it was because my hat was hiding my face and blocking their scan. I do not like it one bit.”

 The facial recognition tech is a breach of privacy, critics charge, and similar to Madison Square Garden’s controversial facial recognition tech.

The Mets “increase their profit margin when they choose to use facial recognition as opposed to using manual labor to adequately protect its 400,000 square foot premises,” the suit argues.

The Mets allow fans who opt-in to use facial recognition technology to enter the ballpark without paper or digital tickets, a feature the team introduced in 2002 and calls Mets Entry Express.

 “It’s a slippery slope,” Nate Wessler, a facial recognition litigation expert with the American Civil Liberties Union told The Post. “When people buy a ticket to a ball game, they expect to turn over money in exchange for a seat. They don’t expect that they’re also giving the company permission to track them based on the unique features of our faces.”

Mayor de Blasio has a quid pro quo policy for criminals to return to court

 CBS NY

  There’s controversy ahead over new criminal justice reforms.

Cash bail will be eliminated Jan. 1 for hundreds of offenses, and some defendants could be let out earlier and given rewards to get them to show up to court, CBS2’s Lisa Rozner reported Monday.

State judges will no longer require cash bail for most misdemeanors and non-violent felonies like selling drugs or burglarizing a home, and the state says nearly 900 city residents in jail now will be released starting mid-December.

Bail bondsman Ira Judelson said he’s already seeing fewer arrests.

“We’re going to have a major public safety issue on our hands,” he said. “It’s basically like going to school without a principal, without guidance counselors, without teachers and let students be in school and say ‘fend for yourself.'”

Republican Assemblyman Mike LiPetri said he expects around 500 inmates on Long Island to be freed.

“This is a travesty of justice,” said LiPetri. “These are criminals in our communities who have solicited sex from children. These are criminals who solicited drugs in our neighborhoods such as heroin, opioids, fentanyl.”

A law enforcement source told CBS2 a city program will offer those released incentives meant to encourage them to show up in court such as Mets baseball tickets, a subway pass or a Dunkin’ Donuts gift card.

A spokesperson for Gov. Andrew Cuomo told CBS2 he expects the reforms to be implemented appropriately, however the governor’s office doesn’t have any involvement with the city’s rewards program.

CBS NY

 On Wednesday, Mayor de Blasio came to the defense of a city program that critics say will reward criminal behavior.

The incentive program would give accused criminals – being released from jail under the city’s new cashless bail policy – things like New York Mets tickets and gift cards for showing up to court.

 New York City will be ringing in the New Year with a new set of criminal justice reforms to combat overcrowded jails.


About 900 accused criminals are expected to be released in January 2020. The city will be rewarding them with Mets tickets, movie passes, and store gift cards for making their scheduled court appearances.

Critics say the program rewards criminal behavior, but de Blasio is optimistic the plan will work.

“In a world where we want speedier trials and we want the justice system to work, if small incentives are part of what actually makes it work than that’s a smart policy.

Starting Jan. 1, the bail reform policy eliminates cash bail and pre-trial detention for misdemeanors and most low level felonies – with exceptions like murder conspiracy, domestic violence cases, and sex crimes.

How about this new Police Commissioner? Total flack. Something very, very rotten is going on here and it looks like it's all tied to the Rikers shutdown.