Over two dozen professional athletes in Boston were mistaken for people in a mugshot database by Amazon's facial recognition technology, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Massachusetts.
A test conducted by the ACLU using the technology, known as Rekognition, falsely matched 27 athletes - including players for the New England Patriots, Boston Celtics, Boston Red Sox, and Boston Bruins - with images in the arrest-photo database.
Among the misidentified athletes were Patriots players Duron Harmon, James White, and Stephen Gostkowski; Celtics players Gordon Hayward and Tacko Fall; Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale; and Bruins forward Brad Marchand.
"This technology is flawed," Harmon said. "If it misidentified me, my teammates, and other professional athletes in an experiment, imagine the real-life impact of false matches. This technology should not be used by the government without protections. Massachusetts should press pause on face surveillance technology."
In a statement to Boston's 7NEWS, Amazon web services said the ACLU is "misusing and misrepresenting" Rekognition and that the technology can be beneficial when used with the "99% confidence threshold."
