Privacy and the Connected Mind: Addressing the Unique Challenges Posed by Neurotechnologies

Betsy Greytok, Laura Cabrera Trujillo, Jeremy Greenberg, Timothy Brown

In 2020, Elon Musk announced an update to Neuralink—his startup centered around brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). BCIs, like those proposed by Musk, are an umbrella term for devices that detect, amplify, stimulate, and translate brain activity into usable neuroinformation. Emerging and future uses of BCIs span from use cases in the employment context, to those firmly rooted in health. In this session, we will explore potential privacy and security risks associated with such devices, benefits of their use, the sensitivity of the data they collect, and principles for safeguarding neuroinformation.

Betsy Greytok, Vice President of Ethics & Policy, IBM

Laura Cabrera Trujillo, Assistant Professor of Neuroethics, Michigan State University

Jeremy Greenberg, Policy Counsel Machine Learning & AI, Future of Privacy Forum

Timothy Brown, Researcher, Center for Neurotechnology Project

Readings:

iHuman-Bluring-Lines-Between-Mind-and-Machine

App-Stores-for-the-Brain-Privacy-Security-in-Brain-Computer-Interfaces

Four-Ethical-Priorities-for-Neurotechnologies-and-AI

Towards-New-Human-Rights-in-the-Age-of-Neuroscience-and-Neurotechnology

IEEE-Neuroethics-Framework

The-Ethical-Challenges-of-Connecting-Our-Brains-to-Computers-Scientific-American

Neurosecurity-Security-and-Privacy-for-Neural-Devices