ACLU: Facial recognition software falsely matched famous athletes to mug shot database

BOSTON — A popular facial recognition software falsely matched more than two dozen professional athletes to people in a mugshot database in a test conducted by the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts.

The ACLU said it used Amazon’s Rekognition software to compare the official headshots of 188 New England athletes from the Boston Bruins, Boston Celtics, Boston Red Sox and New England Patriots with a database of 20,000 public arrest photos.

According to the ACLU, the software mistakenly matched 28 of the athletes to a mugshot in the database, including New England Patriots safety Duron Harmon.

“This technology is flawed,” said Harmon. “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.”

The ACLU said it had an independent computer science expert verify the results and nearly one-in-six athletes were falsely identified.

“The results of this scan add to the mounting evidence that unregulated face surveillance technology in the hands of government agencies is a serious threat to individual rights, due process, and democratic freedoms,” said Kade Crockford, director of the Technology for Liberty Program at the ACLU of Massachusetts. “Face surveillance is dangerous when it doesn’t work, and when it does, there are currently no rules or standards in place in our state to ensure the technology isn’t misused or abused. Massachusetts must pass a moratorium on government use of face surveillance technology until there are safeguards in place to keep people safe and free.”

For privacy reasons, the ACLU isn’t able to share any information about the matched mugshots or the mugshots themselves with Boston 25 News.

A hearing is set for Tuesday on Beacon Hill regarding an ACLU-backed bill that would establish a statewide moratorium on government use of facial surveillance and other biometric screening technologies until the legislature imposes checks and balances.

In June, the ACLU of Massachusetts launched the “Press Pause on Face Surveillance” campaign to build awareness about the civil liberties concerns posed by face surveillance.

In emails uncovered by the ACLU, the CEO of a Cambridge-based facial recognition company admitted to top brass at the Plymouth Police Department his technology might work only 30-percent of the time. Nonetheless, he pushed aggressively for the chief to install the software in schools, town buildings and public streets.

>>RELATED: Local facial recognition company wanted police to share your private information

Amazon Web Services sent Boston 25 News the following statement:

"The ACLU is once again knowingly misusing and misrepresenting Amazon Rekognition to make headlines. As we've said many times in the past, when used with the recommended 99% confidence threshold and as one part of a human driven decision, facial recognition technology can be used for a long list of beneficial purposes, from assisting in the identification of criminals to helping find missing children to inhibiting human trafficking. We continue to advocate for federal legislation of facial recognition technology to ensure responsible use, and we've shared our specific suggestions for this both privately with policy makers and on our blog."

(according to ACLU)

New England Patriots

• David Andrews
• Adam Butler
• Yodny Cajuste
• Keionta Davis
• Phillip Dorsett
• Stephen Gostkowski
• Duron Harmon
• Jonathan Jones
• Lance Kendricks
• David Parry
• Danny Shelton
• Dan Skipper
• James White
• Isaiah Wynn

Boston Bruins

• Sean Kuraly
• Karson Kuhlman
• Brad Marchand
• John Moore
• Joakim Nordstrom

Boston Red Sox

• Heath Hembree
• Steve Pearce
• Chris Sale
• Hector Velazquez
• Christian Vazquez
• Brandon Workman

Boston Celtics

• Tacko Fall
• Gordon Hayward

Cox Media Group