Organizations are increasingly developing or deploying “immersive technologies,” a collection of hardware and software products that substitute, enhance, or alter users’ individual, physical-world experiences. These emerging technologies—which include tools like extended reality (XR), virtual worlds, and brain-computer interfaces (BCIs)—have the potential to transform healthcare, education, entertainment, advertising, and other sectors. However, because they often rely on large amounts and kinds of personal, potentially sensitive data, they also raise important privacy and data protection questions. Without safeguards, data about people’s bodies, behaviors, and surrounding environments could be inferred and used to manipulate, discriminate against, or otherwise harm both users and bystanders. FPF works with experts from industry, academia, and civil society to identify the unique privacy and data protection risks in this nascent field, analyze how existing and emerging regulations implicate immersive technologies, and develop best practices and policy recommendations.
Five Top of Mind Data Protection Recommendations for Brain-Computer Interfaces
By Jeremy Greenberg, [email protected] and Katelyn Ringrose [email protected]. Key FPF-curated background resources – policy & regulatory documents, academic papers, and technical analyses regarding brain-computer interfaces are available here. Recently, Elon Musk livestreamed an update for Neuralink—his startup centered around creating brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). BCIs are an umbrella term for devices that detect, amplify, and translate […]