The Commodification of Brainwave Data Is Something We Should Worry About

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Tech companies are moving into a direction in which the major tech companies who already have all of their data are also going to be the ones who are selling the same devices. It's something we should worry about because the commodification of brainwave data is not just about sending you very precise advertisements. That same data is sold to employers who can use it to make hiring and firing and discriminatory choices about consumers. There is no safe space for people to think any thoughts, let alone dissident thoughts or divergent or different thinking.

Every time our brain does some thinking, there are associated physical processes. In particular, electric currents and charged particles jump between neurons, creating associated electromagnetic fields. These fields can in principle be detected with proper technology, opening the possibility for reading your mind. That technology is currently primitive, but rapidly advancing, and it's not too early to start thinking about legal and ethical consequences when governments and corporations have access to your thoughts. Nita Farahany is a law professor and bioethicist who discusses these issues in her new book, The Battle for Your Brain: Defending the Right to Think Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology.

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Nita Farahany received a J.D. and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Duke University. She is currently the Robinson O. Everett Distinguished Professor of Law & Philosophy at Duke, as well as Founding Director of the Duke Initiative for Science & Society. She has served on a number of government commissions, including the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. She is a Fellow of the American Law Institute and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and was awarded the Duke Law School Distinguished Teaching Award.

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