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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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Clarke Willmott—Declan Goodwin & Elinor Owen

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NEWS
Regulators differed in the clarity and consistency of their post-Mazur advice and guidance, according to an interim report by the Legal Services Board (LSB)
The dangers of uncritical artificial intelligence (AI) use in legal practice are no longer hypothetical. In this week's NLJ, Dr Charanjit Singh of Holborn Chambers examines cases where lawyers relied on ‘hallucinated’ citations — entirely fictitious authorities generated by AI tools
The next generation is inheriting more than assets—it is inheriting complexity. Writing in NLJ this week, experts from Penningtons Manches Cooper chart how global mobility, blended families and evolving values are reshaping private wealth advice
Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming sport, from recruitment and training to officiating and fan engagement. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Dr Ian Blackshaw of Valloni Attorneys at Law explains how AI now influences everything from injury prevention to tactical decisions, with clubs using tools such as ‘TacticAI’ to gain competitive edges
The Solicitors Act 1974 may still underpin legal regulation, but its age is increasingly showing. Writing in NLJ this week, Victoria Morrison-Hughes of the Association of Costs Lawyers argues that the Act is ‘out of step with modern consumer law’ and actively deters fairness
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