California passes law to protect consumer brain data

A week ago, California governor Gavin Newsom signed a new law that aims to protect people’s brain data from being potentially misused by neurotechnology companies. A growing number of consumer technology products promise to help address cognitive issues: apps to meditate, to improve focus and to treat mental health conditions such as depression. These products monitor and record brain data, which encodes virtually everything that goes on in the mind, including thoughts, feelings and intentions.

The law, which passed both the California Assembly and the Senate, amends the state’s current personal privacy law-known as the California Consumer Privacy Act by including “neural data” under “personal sensitive information.” This includes data generated by a user’s brain activity and the poten-meshwork of nerves that ex- tends to the rest of the body.

The bill extends the same level of protections to neural data that it does for other data already considered sensitive under the California Consumer Privacy Act, such as facial images, DNA and finger- prints, known as biometric information. Users can now request, delete, correct and limit what data that a neuro- tech company collects on them. They can also opt out from companies selling or sharing their data. Unlike medical devices, which must abide by federal health laws, consumer neurotechnology devices go largely unregulated, experts say.