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Neurotech: privacy & data protection

11 October 2024 / Harry Lambert
Issue: 8089 / Categories: Features , Profession , Technology , Privacy , Data protection
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Harry Lambert continues his series on neurorights—this time with the focus on neurotechnology & its intersection with fundamental privacy rights
  • Examines the burgeoning neurotechnology field, and considers in turn the three primary legal causes of action that are relevant to privacy and neurotechnology: breach of confidence, misuse of private information, and breach of the General Data Protection Regulation.

In contemporary society, individuals already relinquish substantial amounts of personal privacy to corporations in exchange for negligible benefits. As neurotechnology develops, the stakes will be higher. The benefits will be greater (for example, writing a text or controlling a computer game with your thoughts), but so too will be the risks. If we are not careful, the pact society makes with Big Tech is going to become increasingly Faustian. To quote Nita Farahany, author of The Battle for your Brain (2023)), neurotechnology is now encroaching upon the ‘last fortress’ of our freedom.

This article addresses the interplay between neurotechnology and privacy, considering how existing legal frameworks might respond to emerging challenges.

Normative underpinnings

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

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Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
The Court of Protection has ruled in Macpherson v Sunderland City Council that capacity must be presumed unless clearly rebutted. In this week's NLJ, Sam Karim KC and Sophie Hurst of Kings Chambers dissect the judgment and set out practical guidance for advisers faced with issues relating to retrospective capacity and/or assessments without an examination
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
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