Boston Calling's Surveillance Test

Concerts aren’t really places for privacy, especially in the age of social media, but it’s unlikely fans would embrace the idea of being monitored by authorities without their knowledge during a show.

Face recognition software.

That’s just what happened at last year’s Boston Calling concerts, where authorities reportedly tested new event monitoring software that gave them a live, detailed feed of attendees at City Hall plaza during May and September events – unbeknownst to promoters.

City agencies captured thousands of faces, according to documents obtained by Dig Boston, in efforts to screen people for identification, conduct video analytics and detect suspicious objects.

The equipment – IBM’s Intelligent Operations Center – is part of a “Smarter Cities” initiative for which the Boston has spent millions on IT hardware.

When the paper sought to uncover more details about who’d put the “face capture” software to use during the concerts, the Boston Police Department denied involvement, despite photos proving otherwise.

“BPD was not part of this initiative,” the department said in a statement. “We do not and have not used or possess this type of technology.” Kate Norton, press secretary for Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, provided more details, noting that the city “did not pursue long-term use of this software or enter into a contract to utilize this software on a permanent basis.

“The City of Boston engaged in a pilot program with IBM, testing situational awareness software (SAS) for two events hosted on City Hall Plaza: Boston Calling in May 2013, and Boston Calling in September 2013,” Norton wrote. “The purpose of the pilot was to evaluate software that could make it easier for the City to host large, public events, looking at challenges such as permitting, basic services, crowd and traffic management, public safety, and citizen engagement through social media and other channels. These were technology demonstrations utilizing pre-existing hardware (cameras) and data storage systems.”

Though the city may explore options to use SAS in the future, “there are a number of challenges presented by using this type of software, including, but not limited to, infrastructure support as well as legal and privacy concerns,” she added.

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