♪ this is "nightline." >> tonight, under surveillance. your face caught on camera and the information it may hold. >> it is very dystopian. it is very 1984-ish. it's clearly not what it was originally intended. it's frightening. >> facial recognition being used to ban people from a new york sports arena. >> the ticket has been revoked and you are not permitted in the building. >> why the state attorney general is now involved. the ethical and legal questions. >> it's immoral. it's unethical. it smacks of tyrannical behavior. >> could this happen to you? nikole hannah-jones. >> no part of america's story has been untouched by the legacy

of slavery. >> her thought-provoking docuseries "the 1619 project" premiering amidst new bans on how we teach history in schools. >> you can ban what someone can learn in a classroom but you can't stop them from watching this documentary series and getting the information. paris hilton. the big reveal from the star and her husband. mucinex nightshift fights your worst nighttime symptoms so you can get to sleep and wake up ready to go. how could you? wake up to a new you. with mucinex nightshift, it's not cold and flu season. it's always comeback season. wondering what actually goes into your multivitamin? it's no at new chapter,eason. its' innovation, organic ingredients, and fermentation. fermentation? yes. formulated to help you body really truly absorb the natural goodness. new chapter. wellness, well done.

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♪ good evening. thank you for joining us. it may sound like something out of george orwell's "1984." but the same technology that helps us unlock our phone is being used to track us in many places. it's not just law enforcement watching. here's abc's mona kosar abdi. >> reporter: it's game day at madison square garden. but unbeknownst to attorney benjamin norren, he's been tracked with facial recognition software. >> your ticket is not valid. >> reporter: ultimately denied entry to the knicks game. >> your ticket has been revoked and you are not included in. >> reporter: his colleague barred as well. >> i've been a knick fan my entire life. i met my wife at madison square garden. the reason i actually asked her out on a date was that she knew who the knicks' first-round

draft pick was in 1980. the garden sent me a jersey with my name on it. >> reporter: the lifelong new yorker has been a knicks season ticket holder for over 40 years. >> i was working, and i was able to buy a knicks season subscription. it was 1976. i think the tickets were $12.50 each. and it was like one of the great moments of my life that i had season tickets. and i have had those seats up until they were revoked or terminated by madison square garden for over 47 years. >> reporter: norren and hutcher two of several attorneys that have been denied entry into msg entertainment for being involved in lawsuits against msg entertainment. some being picked out of the crowd by special cameras that can immediately identify people. in your opinion, they're 100% retaliating for you against this case? >> unequivocally. i have never had action taken against me as a lawyer because of something i have done within

the context of my job. >> reporter: the practice using facial recognition to ban people is raising ethical and legal questions with potential ripple effects beyond madison square garden. >> it is very dystopian. it is very 1984-ish. how far is this technology going to go that people are going to be able to use this type of technology to -- to take action that is clearly not what it was originally intended? it's frightening. >> reporter: today, new york state attorney general's office announced that they were looking into msg entertainment's controversial use of facial recognition, adding that the practice may violate the new york civil and human rights laws. an msg spokesperson telling abc news in part, "it is not our intent to dissuade attorneys from representing plaintiffs in litigation against us. to even suggest anyone is being excluded based on the protected classes identified in state and federal civil rights laws is

ludicrous." >> so face recognition use by a private company, by entertainment venues, is pretty common these days. i think what is unusual about this situation is that madison square garden was using it to identify people and kick them out of the venue for no real reason. >> reporter: three new york state lawmakers have also introduced a bill to update a civil rights law protecting people's rights to attend public performances, extending it to sports. >> you're not permitted to refuse admission or to eject otherwise peaceable people from a public performance. and this is really aimed at performances at music halls, so-called legitimate theaters, burlesque theaters, opera houses, dance halls. so it may be that new york law would say you can't exclude people from mariah carey, but you could exclude people from the knicks.

>> all the great knick teams of the '90s -- >> reporter: larry hutcher and his team have taken legal action citing that civil rights law. what would you say to someone who's, "tough luck, you're banned from a basketball game sdwrirks? basketball game, it doesn't go to the heart of it. it is a connection to the city, to the players. to dismiss it as, it's just a basketball game, that's what life is. that's what makes life worth living. these types of connections. and it's meaningful. >> i don't think there's anyone that's more proud to be from brooklyn or from new york than me, and there's no place i'd rather be. >> reporter: attorney ben panchesky is born and raised in new york, longtime fan of the city's legendary sports franchises. >> i've been a ranger and knick fan my entire life. madison square garden to me was the mecca. >> reporter: he's a fierce advocate for the downtrodden. as documented in a 2010 episode of abc's "what would you do?"

>> stop now. >> reporter: where he stood up for a woman being harassed on hidden camera. >> a lot of people would say that's heroic. >> it's not heroic, it's the right thing. if people behaved that way, we wouldn't have all these problems. >> reporter: he was also barred entry from msg entertainment-owned properties. january 10th, kicked out of a rangers game. at first he says he didn't understand why. >> three gentlemen come over to me, dressed in madison square garden security uniforms, they say, "are you benjamin panchesky?" "yes, i am." "do you have identification?" "what's this about?" they give me a piece of paper. it says because we're representing a plaintiff in a lawsuit against madison square garden, i'm banned from entering the garden. i look at the piece of paper. i say to him, "are you kidding me? are you serious?" they escorted me out of the building in front of everyone, and i was back in the street. so i got myself a pretzel and i went home. >> reporter: an msg spokesperson saying in a statement, "msg

instituted a straightforward policy that precludes attorneys from firms pursuing active litigation against the company from attending events at our venues until that litigation has been resolved." adding, "impacted attorneys will be welcomed back to our venues upon resolution of the litigation." facial recognition is becoming increasingly common among private companies. some retailers use it to identify shoplifters with some casinos using it to keep out gamblers they fear may cheat. >> consists of taking an image, extracting features from the face, and then matching those features against features stored in a database of images of people. >> reporter: dr. metaxas and his team at rutgers university work on facial recognition technology. his lab has received funding from all major government agencies, including nasa. >> basically, it finds key points on the face -- eyebrows,

eyes, the perimeter of the face and the mouth. >> what is the most important feature that it's picking up on right here? >> both shape and texture. shape is very important because that makes it very accurate. >> reporter: the technology is so advanced that wearing glasses or different hairstyles -- >> as you can see here, it picked up her face. >> reporter: or even a beard can't help you beat the system. the technology, though very advanced, is only as good as the database that it pulls from. for it to actually identify someone by name, that person's image must already be identified and uploaded into a database. many photos are readily available online. where do you see this industry going in the future? >> i see this technology, cameras are getting better, computers are getting faster. and i think over the years, it will become cheaper and usable by anybody. >> reporter: critics say facial recognition can be prone to racial bias. studies have shown disparities when using the technology.

>> we certainly have a lot of inaccuracies in facial recognition, especially for people of color and people with darker skin. are getting involved.he police - and so police are coming to people's houses and arresting people for crimes that they didn't commit. >> reporter: ben panchesky is determined to fight back against the practice that he believes is morally wrong. >> facial recognition used to ban people, used to select people, is dangerous. and in the wrong hands can lead to terrible things. and it could bring us down a road where there might not be any return from. it's immoral, it's unethical, and one day we will make it illegal. >> reporter: larry hutcher is hoping he will someday be able to see his beloved knicks play at home again. a judge recently granted a preliminary injunction, allowing larry and his team to attend music and entertainment events.

but so far, no sporting events. what would it mean if you could never go back to madison square garden again? >> heartbroken. heartbroken. i love the knicks. i hope i get my seats back, notwithstanding everything that has taken place, and that i'll be able to go to the garden. >> our thanks to mona. up next, robin roberts sits down with the woman behind the "1619 project," nikole hannah-jones. her latest venture and how she's fighting censorship in schools. before treating your chronic migraine— 15 or more headache days a month, each lasting 4 hours or more you're not the only one with questions about botox®. botox® prevents headaches in adults with chronic migraine before they even start—with about 10 minutes of treatment once every 3 months. so, ask your doctor if botox® is right for you, and if a sample is available. effects of botox® may spread hours to weeks after injection causing serious symptoms. alert your doctor right away, as difficulty swallowing,

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♪

undertaking evolved from the a pages of the new york times to a new docuseries. it seeks to reframe the focus of the american story by places the cons givens of slayry and the contributions of black americans at the forefront of the national narrative. abc's robin roberts sat down with the woman behind it all, pulitzer prize-winning journalist and educator nikole hannah-jones. >> i feel excited, and i feel anxious. you never know how something will go out into the world. but i know how hard we worked on it. >> reporter: pulitzer prize-winner nikole hannah-jones back with her most ambitious project yet. >> as a woman in my 40s, i'm the first generation to be born in society in which black people have full rights and citizenship. >> reporter: adapted from her

landmark "new york times" magazine anthology and best-selling book "the 1619 project." >> the very first enslaved africans were brought here over 400 years ago. since then no part of america's story has been untouched by the legacy of slavery. >> you feel in all aspects in america, who we are, it can be traced back and has the remnants of slavery? do you think that's something that people will understand with this series? >> absolutely. i mean, that is what the series argues. so it's not just a historical documentary. it's actually a documentary about contemporary society. >> reporter: premiering at a time when heated debates about how history is taught in children's schools erupt across the nation. last week the florida board of education made headlines after it rejected the addition of an advanced placement african american studies course. >> the state should not be able to prohibit ideas from being

taught simply because a politician doesn't like them. >> how do you think this series will fit into this ongoing conversation we have in this country about race? >> this medium of television is democratizing. you can ban what someone can learn in a classroom but you can't stop them from watching this documentary series and getting that information. so i think it is really coming at a critical time. >> reporter: jones traveling across the country, sharing the stories of everyday people from all walks of life. >> we follow real-life americans. the unionization fight with amazon workers in alabama and new york. we follow a black mother who lost one of her twins she was pregnant with because of racism in health care. >> about 22 weeks, things started to really physically change for you? >> i'm in pain. i can't walk down a flight of steps, up a flight of steps. i can't walk down the block. she's aware of all of these things and it still doesn't make her check me any further.

>> what resonated with you most? >> what resonated with me most is just the enduring spirit of black people in this country. despite everything that we have -- people have gone through and despite often tsehe stereotypes of somehow black people think they are victims, that black people love their country, that they have always been willing to fight to try to force their country to live up to its highest ideals. and that they just want to is due. that black people are willing to work hard, like every other american, but have never had an equal chance in society. >> reporter: the thought-provoking series introducing viewers to jones and her family. >> my father, he always flew a flag in our front yard. >> one thing about dad, he was patriotic. >> he's a part of that united states army. >> they served their country. hey, you serve your country, don't mean your country will serve you. >> roger ross williams,

executive producer, directed the "democracy" episode, really thought that was the way to connect all of the episodes together was through my family's story and standing in for black america. nearly everything that my family experienced, most black americans have experienced also. >> how has your life changed since the project? >> it really has become my life's work in a way that i couldn't have imagined when i pitched the project. i certainly didn't think four years later i would be getting ready to launch a six-part documentary series about this. >> reporter: and although the show is told through the lens of black americans, jones says this is something for all americans to watch and reflect on. >> this is the american story. we've tried to segregate these histories. there's black history, then there's american history. but you can't understand america if you don't understand the role of black americans, the role of slavery, the role of racism. >> one word to describe, okay,

if i say the 1619 project is? >> truth. >> our thanks to robin. the "1619 project" premieres thursday, january 26th on hulu. when we come back, the announcement from paris hilton. the blind singer and her husband. ♪ she me a little baby i'll show you mine ♪ was life. now, powerwash gives me the power of an overnight soak in minutes. i'm sorry, minutes? with 3 cleaning boosters... not found in traditional dish soaps that help break down, loosen and lift away food and grease... so much faster! tougher mess? let the suds sit a few minutes before wiping. even cleans... the grill! thank you! bye, bye cough. later chest congestion. hello 12 hours of relief.

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♪ finally tonig

>> where do you think you're going, you're going that way. >> to what? >> paris hilton, the reality star, deejay, and entrepreneur announcing the birth of her first child, a boy, with husband carter reum. writing on instagram, "you're already loved beyond words." paris married reum, a venture capitalist, in a lavish star-studded ceremony in bel air in november 2021. she said at the time, "i finally got to kiss my prince and begin the happily ever after i've been dreaming of since i was a little girl." hilton, who is 41, opening up two years ago about her journey to motherhood and why having children was so important to her, telling the trend reporter mara with podcast -- >> i really do believe that having a family, having children, is the meaning of life and i haven't got to experience that because i don't feel anyone really deserved that love for me. now i finally found the person who does. >> friend kim kardashian encouraging hilton on her efforts to become a mom and

introducing hilton to the fertility doctor she has used for her surrogate pregnancies. >> i didn't even know anything about it. i'm happy she told me that advice. >> "people" magazine reports paris had her baby via surrogate. hilton recently telling "people" magazine, "it's always been my dream to be a mother. so excited to start our family together. our hearts are exploding with love for our baby boy." congratulations to the couple. that's "nightline" for this evening. see you right back here, same time tomorrow. thanks for the 0 company, america. good night.