Photo Credit: Colynary Media
A Madison Square Garden database allegedly tracked and categorized celebrities who have visited the venue, including labels from low to high “risk.”
A new report from Wired revealed that a database allegedly kept by Madison Square Garden tracked and categorized “hundreds” of celebrities, famous Knicks superfans, and even some of Taylor and Travis’ wedding guests, with labels including “DO NOT HOST,” “LGBTQIA,” and low to high “risk.”
ShinyHunters, a hacker collective that took credit for uncovering the database, has been active since 2019. The group posted hacked data from 60 companies over a 15-month period and has been the target of international law enforcement agencies. The data-dump included 45 gigabytes’ worth of data.
Despite Fat Joe’s status as a Knicks superfan and apparent buddy to owner James Dolan (Dolan selected Joe to lead the hip-hop float during the Knicks championship parade), the rapper is apparently still on thin ice with Madison Square Garden.
An internal database allegedly maintained by MSG labels Fat Joe a “medium risk,” presumably due to his connection to fellow rapper Jadakiss. Jadakiss has been critical of James Dolan in the past and is also labeled as “medium risk.”
The database also reportedly tracks celebrities’ race, gender identity, and sexual orientation. 93 entries are marked as “LGBTQIA,” including Ricky Martin and Phoebe Bridgers.
“They just seem overly interested in queer and trans people in their venue,” noted Evan Greer, director of the digital rights group Fight for the Future, who added that he has never met James Dolan.
“Low risk” celebrities include die-hard Knicks fans Edie Falco, Tracy Morgan, and Ben Stiller. “High risk” individuals include rappers Lil Jon and DaBaby. The scale, according to sources, often reflects whether a person has been publicly critical of James Dolan at any point in their career.
“It’s a really, really paranoid, terrible system,” a source told Wired.
The database also indicates that MSG might use complimentary tickets to buoy its political agenda; 32 political candidates are listed who are or were “supported by MSG PAC,” as well as “hundreds” of current and former elected officials. These also include a column noting each entry’s “claim to fame,” which for nearly 60 people involves signing a letter or testifying in support of a renewed permit for MSG that Dolan was trying to secure in 2023. None of the individuals in this portion of the list have any kind of “risk score” linked to them.
The hacker collective’s data dump also includes a second, much larger database, which contains over 10.5 million entries that include people’s personal information. This data appears to have been pulled from MSG’s Salesforce customer management system, with some entries having been added as far back as 2012, while some have been edited as recently as June 6. This list includes one of the reporters involved in the Wired story, as well as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
“Wired’s reporting is inaccurate and false. MSG is pursuing legal remedies,” a spokesperson for Madison Square Garden told Digital Music News.
Last month, a class-action lawsuit was filed against MSG, claiming that this data-dump filled with private data is the direct result of Dolan’s “growing surveillance state.”
“This scandal underscores why MSG Entertainment should not be collecting and retaining sensitive customer information in the first place,” said Dario Maestro, legal director at Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, whose colleague was included in a MSG dossier of activists released in the data dump. “A company that cannot secure a customer list has no business scanning our faces.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.digitalmusicnews.com ’
