Like a lot of people in this region, I’ve spent the past few weeks thinking about the World Cup.
Part of that is simple excitement. We do not get many opportunities to host an event of this scale. In a matter of days, millions of people from around the world will be watching matches played right here in our backyard. For soccer fans, it is the equivalent of having the Olympics come to town.
There is also something refreshing about seeing efforts to make the tournament accessible to ordinary people.
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On Tuesday, New Jersey announced that hundreds of free World Cup tickets would be distributed at no cost to youth soccer players, military families, healthcare workers, pediatric patients, first responders, and others who serve their communities. Similar initiatives have appeared elsewhere in the region. It is hard not to like that idea.
Big sporting events often feel as though they are designed for corporations, sponsors, and people willing to pay eye-watering prices on the secondary market. Giving local families a chance to attend helps remind us who these events are supposed to be for.
But while reading about those ticket programs, I found myself thinking about something else.
Nothing is free.
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The tickets may be.
The event itself certainly is not.
Behind every match, every fan festival, every watch party, and every packed stadium sits an enormous security operation that most of us will never see.
Road closures.
Command centers.
Airspace restrictions.
Law enforcement coordination.
Cybersecurity teams.
And increasingly, systems designed to detect, track, and respond to drones.
That last one caught my attention.
A decade ago, the idea that a major sporting event would need extensive drone-defense planning would have sounded far-fetched. Today, it is viewed as common sense. The technology has become inexpensive, widely available, and capable of causing serious problems in the wrong hands.
No reasonable person wants an unauthorized drone flying over a crowded stadium.
If security officials tell me they need technology to prevent that from happening, I believe them.
That is not where my concern begins.
My concern begins when temporary solutions have a habit of becoming permanent fixtures.
We have seen this before.
A new threat emerges. Government agencies and private partners develop tools to address it. The public accepts those tools because the threat is real. Most people conclude, understandably, that safety outweighs inconvenience.
Then time passes.
The emergency fades.
The technology remains.
The World Cup presents an interesting example because it is forcing us to confront that question in real time.
Officials have compared the tournament’s scale to hosting dozens of Super Bowls in a single month. The security challenges are enormous. It would be irresponsible not to prepare.
At the same time, preparation now involves capabilities that previous generations could scarcely imagine.
Sensors can detect activity from significant distances away. Cameras are smarter than they used to be. Data moves faster. Information can be shared among agencies almost instantly.
Again, none of this is inherently bad.
In fact, much of it is beneficial.
The issue is not whether these tools should exist.
The issue is whether the public understands how they are being used and what happens after the tournament is over.
Who keeps the data?
For how long?
Who has access to it?
What oversight exists?
What safeguards prevent mission creep?
Lawyers tend to ask these questions because we spend our professional lives dealing with unintended consequences. We know that powers granted for one purpose often find their way into others. Sometimes that expansion is justified. Sometimes it is not.
Either way, transparency matters.
I support doing whatever is reasonably necessary to keep fans safe. Most people do. Nobody wants to read headlines about a preventable tragedy when the tools existed to stop it.
But safety and accountability are not opposing values.
They are supposed to work together.
The World Cup will bring unforgettable moments to our region. Some lucky kids will attend matches they never thought they would see in person. Families will create memories that last a lifetime. Communities will come together around a global event that transcends language, politics, and borders.
That is the visible side of the tournament.
The less visible side is the infrastructure being built to protect it.
Both deserve our attention.
Because when the final whistle blows and the crowds go home, the free tickets will be gone.
The memories will remain.
The question is whether some of the surveillance systems remain too. And that is a conversation worth having before they become part of everyday life.
Michael J. Epstein, a Harvard Law School graduate, is a trial lawyer and managing partner of The Epstein Law Firm, P.A., a law firm based in New Jersey.