"You Read My Mind": Neural Data And The New Wave Of Biometric Privacy Protections

With recent advances in neurotechnology, a number of states have passed, or are considering, substantial laws regarding a broad spectrum of technologies. These laws impact not only new technologies that can monitor our thoughts, but also older technologies that pose a few new risks.

The neurotechnology subject to these laws encompasses everything from medical electroencephalography (EEG) equipment—with broad uses in measuring electrical activity in the brain to diagnose epilepsy and seizures or investigate sleep disorders, as well as new uses like Neurode's wearable ADHD-monitoring headband—to implantable brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) such as Elon Musk's Neuralink. Some neurotechnology can generate, collect, and alter large swaths of "neural data," defined broadly as information that is derived from and that directly reflects the activities of one's nervous system, including one's central nerves (i.e., the brain and spinal cord) and peripheral nerves. While