De Siervo and the facial recognition craze

Luigi De Siervo, new Batman, but without a mask and statuesque figure, does not give up and after two years is back at the helm of one of his most controversial projects – after the newer name The Italian dream. Aside from talent (and money), that is Dream The current CEO of Serie A is fighting dirty and bad fans through a Facial recognition system.

The proposal, which has come back into the spotlight in recent weeks, dates back to 2020, when De Siervo himself spoke about it and concerned a campaign to combat racism in stadiums. However, the operation was not successful: more or less in the same period in England the Guardian started a similar indiscretion in connection with security measures at Manchester City’s stadium. The reaction from the English fans was very harsh and De Siervo let his suggestion go unnoticed in a somewhat sly way.

The right opportunity came with the first edition of “Social Responsibility of Football – 2030”. The CEO revealed that the Serie A League is working on a facial recognition system for “Identify and ban anyone guilty of despicable behavior“. If we had assumed in 2020 that it would also be impossible for the Serie A league to receive the green light from the data protection guarantor, The fox found a solution here in three years.

Fans are forced to accept a waiver when purchasing tickets because attending the game is blackmail. A bit like what happens to the applications we use every day on our smartphonesHowever, they access a completely different type of data.

However, there are still many doubts about this, which have also been expressed by the police. If such a utopia really becomes a reality, they would have to do an enormous amount of work every game. In fact, more staff are needed to carry out checks, not to mention those who have to help older people “properly use” a biometric scanner. The same ones who already have difficulty passing a ticket under a barcode reader. It may be nonsense. But one nonsense after another, Going to the stadium is becoming more and more complicated.

Finally and additionally: we are talking about a very expensive technology that must be installed in every stadium in Italy. Who provides the money? The league or the state?

All this without taking into account the reactions from the ultras world that could make us relive the early days after the introduction of the fan card. The average fan, however, who leaves the stadium in the 85th minute to avoid getting caught in traffic on the way back, may see this revolution as a step forward for stadium safety. Here, gentlemen, we would like to remind you The safest and most suitable place to watch the championship is and hopefully remains on the sofa at home. For real fans: Be ready to fight for what is inviolable: your freedom.

Cover: Contrasti Magazine