Tech company CEO resigns after controversy over video at Coldplay concert

The IT company CEO captured in a widely circulated video showing him embracing an employee at a Coldplay concert has resignedAndy Byron resigned from his job as CEO of Cincinnatibased Astronomer Inc according to a statement posted on LinkedIn by the company SaturdayldquoAstronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability and recently that standard was not metrdquo the company said in its post on LinkedInThe move comes a day after the company said that Byron had been placed on leave and the board of directors had launched a formal investigation into the jumbotron incident which went viral A company spokesman later confirmed in a statement to AP that it was Byron and Astronomer chief people officer Kristin Cabot in the videoThe short video clip shows Byron and Cabot as captured on the jumbotron at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough Massachusetts during a Coldplay concert on WednesdayLead singer Chris Martin asked the cameras to scan the crowd for his ldquoJumbotron Songrdquo when he sings a few lines about the people the camera lands onldquoEither theyrsquore having an affair or theyrsquore just very shyrdquo he jokedInternet sleuths identified the man as the chief executive officer of a USbased company and the woman as its chief people officerPete DeJoy Astronomerrsquos cofounder and chief product officer has been tapped as interim CEO while the company conducts a search for Byronrsquos successorMost concert venues warn attendees that they can be filmedItrsquos easy to miss but most concert venues have signs informing the audience that they could be filmed during the event Look for them on the walls when you arrive and around the bar areas or toilets Itrsquos common practice especially when bands like to use performances for music videos or concert filmsThe venue in this case Gillette Stadium in Foxborough also has a privacy policy online which states ldquoWhen you visit our location or attend or participate in an event at our location we may capture your image voice andor likeness including through the use of CCTV cameras andor when we film or photograph you in a public locationrdquoOnce captured a moment can be shared widelyldquoThey probably would have got away with it if they hadnrsquot reactedrdquo said Alison Taylor a clinical associate professor at New York Universityrsquos Stern School of Business And by the time the alleged identities emerged on social media it hit a classic nerve around ldquoleaders acting like the rules donrsquot apply to themrdquo she addedStill Taylor and others stress how quickly such a video lead to an internet search to find the people involved mdash and note that itrsquos important to remember that such ldquodoxingrdquo isnrsquot just reserved for famous people Beyond someone simply spotting a familiar face and spreading the word technological advances such as the rising adoption of artificial intelligence has made it easier and faster overall to find just about anyone in a viral video todayldquoItrsquos a little bit unsettling how easily we can be identified with biometrics how our faces are online how social media can track us mdash and how the internet has gone from being a place of interaction to a gigantic surveillance systemrdquo said Mary Angela Bock an associate professor in the University of Texas at Austinrsquos School of Journalism and Media ldquoWhen you think about it we are being surveilled by our social media Theyrsquore tracking us in exchange for entertaining usrdquoThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever