By Leonardo Neri

It is known that the dream of installing biometrics in football stadiums is already a reality and, in fact, there is Bill (PL) nº 272/2017 in progress, already approved by the Education, Culture and Sports Committee and to be analyzed by the Constitution, Justice and Citizenship Committee (CCJ). In other words, according to the aforementioned project, stadiums with a capacity for more than 10 thousand people may be required to install turnstiles with biometric control at the entrance of fans. The Grêmio club, for example, has already started registering its fan members for biometric access control since June of this year. Regarding the installation of biometrics, the Arena da Baixada, in Curitiba, has been the model of inspiration for other clubs and federations throughout Brazil.

The project in question amends the Fan Defense Statute (Law 10.671/2003) to add the need for fans to be registered in the system to have access to the games. Currently, the law provides for the monitoring of games only by cameras.

It is in this context that Law No. 13,709/2018 (LGPD) is inserted, which regulates the processing of personal data. The law presents rules to regulate how individuals' personal data can be stored by other individuals or even companies. Known as the new General Data Protection Law, the LGPD will come into force in February 2020 and will result in numerous consequences in this sports field as well.

It is important to remember that the technological modernization of Brazilian stadiums was based on the successful experience of installing cameras in stadiums in England and biometric turnstiles in the state of Rio de Janeiro. As mentioned, registration is currently provided for in the Fan Statute, but without the need for biometrics.

Despite the difficulty of implementing biometric control in stadiums, the system will soon encompass this reality and some issues should already be addressed, due to the convergence of the new scenario with the data legislation that will come into force in 2020.

It is worth remembering that the services offered by modern companies have as one of their characteristics the constant collection of users' personal data. Thus, a potential imbroglio that has not yet been discussed in detail by those implementing such technological advances and legal operators is the way in which clubs will collect and process their fans' data, since football has an enormous potential for gathering people in a given place, as well as its capacity to spread exponentially throughout the world.

Furthermore, in addition to this point involving the consent of each user, in providing their personal and private information, the technological equipment through cameras in stadiums can also result in legal discussions or discussions with consumer protection agencies, embodied in the facial expressions and behavior of fans, as mechanisms for identifying data, with subsequent use for third-party purposes, which, currently, are not duly consented to by their owners.

In short, the topic involves numerous legal ramifications that must be gradually debated, in order to understand how the new data legislation will impact the modernization of sports entertainment, through the linking of state-of-the-art technological systems, which, in turn, will also result in several benefits to society.