Apple Watch’s new auto-911 calls after falls may tumble into legal trouble

guest · Sep 29, 2018

Apple Watch’s new auto-911 calls after falls may tumble into legal trouble
Lawyers play out new privacy scenarios created by the Series 4's auto-alert feature
September 25, 2018
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy...will-call-911-after-a-fall-if-you-want-it-to/

Late last week, Apple released more details about how (with certain opt-in settings) the Apple Watch Series 4 will contact emergency services if the watch detects that you've had a hard fall.

If the Apple Watch detects that the wearer is "immobile for about a minute," it begins a 15-second countdown. After that, the Watch will contact emergency services, which often can use mobile phone data to locate the wearer. (Apple says that the feature is automatically enabled for users who have entered their age into their profile and are over 65.)

Elizabeth Joh, a law professor at the University of California, Davis, was quick to point out that, by inviting the police into your home, Apple Watch wearers may be opening themselves up to criminal liability.

Consider: your watch (accidentally) alerts the police to check on you: 4th Amend. community caretaking exception means they can enter your home w/o a warrant. Plain view means they may seize contraband/evidence of a crime. Nice work, guys.

— Elizabeth Joh (@elizabeth_joh) September 12, 2018
Click to expand...

In other words, if police are alerted by an Apple Watch of a possible injury, they do not need a warrant to enter a home under the "community caretaking" exception to the Fourth Amendment.
Click to expand...

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