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Are your thoughts protected? In California, this is now the case! A new law has just emerged to protect users’ neural data, captured by implants or sensors, in the same way as other sensitive personal information.
When your brainwaves become private: California is working hard to protect what’s in your head, literally.
Protecting thoughts is serious!
California, always ahead of its time, has passed an unprecedented law to protect brain data. You know, those captured by these little technological marvels like neural implants or connected headsets that detect your brain waves to improve your sleep or treat depression. Governor Gavin Newsom signed this law, which now classifies this data as sensitive personal information. Yes, just like your biometric data or your banking information, your thoughts too must be monitored closely.
Concretely, this means that you will have the right to request to limit, delete or correct the neural data collected about you by a neurotechnology company. You can even say “no” if she tries to sell or share this information, because yes, your thoughts are not for sale!
Neurotechnologies: between innovation and ethics
The world of neurotechnology is advancing by leaps and bounds. Whether it’s implants that allow you to control a computer with your mind or external sensors that monitor your brain waves, we’re already in the future! And that’s where AI comes in, making it easier to quickly decode brain signals. The day is not far away when you can send messages with your mind. The Neurorights Foundation agrees on the promising potential of all this, but it also sounds the alarm. “This neural data is sensitive,” recalls the NGO, stressing that it could reveal information about your mental or physical health.
And if you thought this was science fiction, think again. Apple has even filed a patent for AirPods that can measure the electrical activity of your brain. Your headphones will no longer just play music, they may soon read your mind… literally.
A promising future, but monitored
Behind this race for innovation are companies like Neuralink, Elon Musk’s start-up, which aspires to push the limits of what is possible. Give sight to the blind, restore mobility to paraplegics, and why not, one day, give us “superpowers” like telepathy. Ambitious, right? But fortunately, California didn’t forget to put some safeguards in place to prevent it all from becoming a little too… dystopian.
Jared Genser of the Neurorights Foundation applauds the California decision, noting that this state is the second after Colorado to pass a law of this type. But he also calls on Congress to act to oversee this revolution on a national scale.