This US State has enacted a new law to extend consumer privacy protection to 'brain data'

A new California law extends consumer privacy protection to brainwave data gathered by implants or wearable devices.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed into law a bill amending the California Consumer Privacy Act, the state's spin on the GDPR in Europe, to classify "neural data" as protected personal information along the lines of precise geolocation, genetics and biometrics.

Neurorights Foundation medical director Sean Pauzauskie called the Califoria law "an enormous victory" for patients suffering from mental health disorders as well as for consumers simply looking to enhance their lives with new technologies.

The NGO co-sponsored the bill with a state senator.

"The essential privacy guardrails it ensures should only boost confidence in all varieties of these revolutionary neurotechnologies, the great majority which are based in California," Pauzauskie said in a release.

California is the second state to extend data protections to brainwaves, on the heels of Colorado putting in place a law requiring privacy safeguards along the lines of what is done for fingerprints.

Protections under the California law include the right to know what brain data is being collected, limit its disclosure, and to be able to opt-out or have it deleted.

The law applies to devices capable of recording or altering nervous system activity, whether they be implanted or worn, the NGO said.

The potential for devices to tap into how people feel or think has raised concerns they could be used to manipulate feelings or thoughts.

Source HT