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Apple Sued Alleging Racial Bias Against Minorities on Watch's Blood Oximeter

dockets.justia.com

31–40 of 78 posts

Re: Apple Sued Alleging Racial Bias Against Minorities on Watch's Blood Oximeter

#31
post #19

What is even the point of measuring this at all times????

This became a bigger deal with COVID, because crashing O2 levels could occur even when someone is subjectively feeling relatively fine - e.g., they think they've got mild COVID and then are all of a sudden at deaths door with little warning. Not something most people generally need though.

Re: Apple Sued Alleging Racial Bias Against Minorities on Watch's Blood Oximeter

#32
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And nothing in Apple's advertising or product info suggested this. I also don't think I saw anything describing this in the ToS or EULA. The least they could do is be upfront about this.

Do you feel they should have a disclaimer about it being harder to take picture of dark skinned people in many settings with their cameras as well? Did you actually read the ToS or EULA?

There are slightly different rules for health devices than for leisure ones. If the problem is real, then it seems reasonable to me for Apple (and everyone else, just to be clear) to be made to amend their printed materials to properly disclose well-known-to-Apple problems with oximetry in darker skin. Again, if the problem is real, then they guy deserves a refund, fees covered, maybe a small token for the effort, and for Apple to not make product claims that it can't fulfill. I do hope it doesn't turn into a giant thing though.

Re: Apple Sued Alleging Racial Bias Against Minorities on Watch's Blood Oximeter

#33

Companies get sued by random people for stuff like this all the time, I don't think there's anything here that indicates this is particularly newsworthy or exceptional. This is the same class-action lawyer who sued Kellogs for not putting enough strawberry ingredients into their strawberry poptarts: https://www.npr.org/2021/10/30/1050175655/strawberry-pop-tar... . Apparently (according to that NPR article) he files ~…

I can't imagine spending my whole life filing bullshit lawsuits.

Re: Apple Sued Alleging Racial Bias Against Minorities on Watch's Blood Oximeter

#34
post #4

The complaint is also available at https://archive.org/details/gov.uscourts.nysd.591590 - the pdf is https://ia601507.us.archive.org/26/items/gov.uscourts.nysd.5... The initial part of the complaint: 1. Apple, Inc. (“Defendant”) manufactures, markets, and sells the Apple Watch, purporting to measure the oxygen level of a wearer’s blood directly from their wrist (“Product”). 2. The interest in blood oxygen levels exte…

Racism requires intent. Even if they KNEW of the discrepancy, they have to optimize towards something. Did Apple do this because they dont like black people? Going to be hard to prove that but it wouldn't be surprising if the plaintiffs gets a payout none-the-less.

> Racism requires intent. . Even if they KNEW of the discrepancy, they have to optimize towards something. Did Apple do this because they dont like black people?

They aren't charged with “racism”, which, incidentally, also isn't, per se, illegal. So even if that was true of racism, it isn't relevant.

They are charged with fraud under various laws, breach of warranty, and unjust enrichment, some of which require intent, but not the intent you describe (racial animus).

Re: Apple Sued Alleging Racial Bias Against Minorities on Watch's Blood Oximeter

#35
Race and skin tone seem to be used interchangeably in this complaint. I see "persons of color" and "racial bias" in consecutive claims. If the sensors are biased, they are certainly biased against skin tones rather than races: a light skinned black person will get a better reading than a dark skinned one. That is, it's not that the sensor says "black person detected, shutting down", it's just not as good at picking up darker skin tones because of the limitations of the inexpensive sensor technology they went with. It seems like racial bias is a hot take, but they may have a better case that Apple engaged in false advertising, especially if they showed anyone in their marketing for whom the sensor was unlikely to be accurate.

/armchair internet lawyer.

Re: Apple Sued Alleging Racial Bias Against Minorities on Watch's Blood Oximeter

#36
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you feel they should have a disclaimer about it being harder to take picture of dark skinned people in many settings with their cameras as well? Did you actually read the ToS or EULA?

There are slightly different rules for health devices than for leisure ones. If the problem is real, then it seems reasonable to me for Apple (and everyone else, just to be clear) to be made to amend their printed materials to properly disclose well-known-to-Apple problems with oximetry in darker skin. Again, if the problem is real, then they guy deserves a refund, fees covered, maybe a small token for the effort, an…

From what I've read the device is FDA-approved so I don't see the issue.

Re: Apple Sued Alleging Racial Bias Against Minorities on Watch's Blood Oximeter

#37

Isn't this a bigger problem involving all pulse oximeters? It was at least two years ago that I first heard that the darker you are, the more likely you will get a false high reading on one.

> Isn't this a bigger problem involving all pulse oximeters?

This is largely about how Apple Watch pulse oximetry feature was marketed vs. how pulse oximetry actually works, so, without taking a position on the merits of the suit, it is quite possible for Apple to legitimately be in the wrong here and other sellers of pilse oximeters not to be, even if Apple Watch pulse oximetry works exactly like pulse oximetry generally.

Re: Apple Sued Alleging Racial Bias Against Minorities on Watch's Blood Oximeter

#38

All photography and lighting equipment is racially biased.

You joke but there was a keynote where they (or maybe another tech brand.. can't remember) debuted their new special camera AI that was less discriminatory against black faces (by underexposing them of course).

Here's a link to something in the same vein https://www.wired.com/story/can-apples-iphone-x-beat-facial-...

Re: Apple Sued Alleging Racial Bias Against Minorities on Watch's Blood Oximeter

#39
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And nothing in Apple's advertising or product info suggested this. I also don't think I saw anything describing this in the ToS or EULA. The least they could do is be upfront about this.

Do you feel they should have a disclaimer about it being harder to take picture of dark skinned people in many settings with their cameras as well? Did you actually read the ToS or EULA?

I do read the ToS and I skim the EULA. I skim the ToS between OS releases (so maybe it's possible the latest point release acknowledges this.)

To be clear, I don't think it'd be acceptable for this to be hidden in the Terms either way.

And no, that's not really equivalent either. And the drawback becomes immediately evident to almost anyone taking photos, since they have their own eyes to compare to.

Re: Apple Sued Alleging Racial Bias Against Minorities on Watch's Blood Oximeter

#40
Doesn't the person filing the suit, by the wording of the suit, admit to expecting inaccuracy based on skin color before buying the device?

Also, did they sue Garmin and Fitbit similarly? If not, it's kind of a self confessed money grab attempt in full daylight.

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