The FMF assured to protect the personal data of the attendees in the matches of the National Team

The Mexican Football Federation (FMF) reiterated its commitment to protecting the personal data of fans attending national team matches and reported that it will work in conjunction with federal authorities to ensure the safety of attendees in the stadiums.

Last Tuesday, April 22, the National Institute for Transparency, Access to Information and Protection of Personal Data (INAI) released a statement in which asked the FMF to protect fan data, especially that of girls and boys, following the implementation of FAN ID.

This is a measure that is part of the identification protocol for entering football stadiums in which people will have to provide their personal and biometric data, which includes photography and facial recognition.

However, according to INAI, this security protocol would have to be adhered to in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Law on the Protection of Personal Data in the Possession of Individuals (LFPDPPP), since in accordance with its article 6, the collection of data would have to be governed by the principles of: lawfulness, consent, information, quality, purpose, loyalty, proportionality and responsibility.

As a result, the FMF indicated that the registration of people attending the Tri matches will be made in accordance with the LFPDPPP, the Regulations of the Personal Data Act, as well as the guidelines and recommendations of the INAI. It should be remembered that this Thursday, March 24, a match will be played against the United States.

The Federation also noted that their priority is, according to them, to protect the data and privacy of minors who attend football matches with their families. However, INAI is not the only one that has spoken out on the implementation of the FAN ID.

The Network in Defense of Digital Rights (R3D) sent a letter to the FMF and Liga MX in which they asked to respect the privacy of fans, as they assured that the facial recognition would not be the most viable solution to curb violence in the stadiums.

In addition, they warned that this measure implies that people are “treated as suspects of crime”. And they added that facial recognition technologies can have a margin of error that can vary between 92.3% and 95.4%, leading to arbitrary arrests of innocent people.

However, Liga MX teams such as Santos Laguna and Atlas have already asked their fans to pre-register for the 2022 Clausura matches, as have the Mexican team before their encounter with the United States at Estadio Azteca.

It should be recalled that the president of Liga MX, Mikel Arriola, had considered the possibility of the information collected being shared with the public security authorities in order to draw up a register on the Mexico Platform and thus have control of the so-called “animation groups”.

And these measures have arisen as a result of the disturbances that occurred on March 5 at the Corregidora Stadium, during the meeting between Altas and Querétaro. In this regard, Morena's deputy, Alberto Rangel Moreno, presented an initiative at the CDMX Congress to prohibit the entry of persons with criminal records to sporting events.

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