Neurorights Group: In Today’s Techy World, Brain Data Needs Protections
Stat reports on efforts to prevent consumer technology companies from Hoovering-up data from users' brains, including a new bill to expand the relevant privacy protections in Colorado. Meanwhile, a dispute between Epic Systems and startup Particle Health over data-sharing is in the news.
Consumer neurotechnology is booming. You can buy a funky-looking headband for $500 on the internet if you want your own personal EEG to track your brain data. But before you click purchase, you might want to check out the device鈥檚 privacy policy. (Broderick, 4/17)
Consumers have grown accustomed to the prospect that their personal data, such as email addresses, social contacts, browsing history and genetic ancestry, are being collected and often resold by the apps and the digital services they use. With the advent of consumer neurotechnologies, the data being collected is becoming ever more intimate. One headband serves as a personal meditation coach by monitoring the user鈥檚 brain activity. Another purports to help treat anxiety and symptoms of depression. Another reads and interprets brain signals while the user scrolls through dating apps, presumably to provide better matches. (鈥溾楲isten to your heart鈥 is not enough,鈥 the manufacturer says on its website.) (Moens, 4/17)
A dispute between electronic health record giant Epic Systems and a startup gives a glimpse at the larger data-sharing challenges healthcare faces. The dispute between Epic and Particle Health, a startup that helps providers and health tech companies aggregate and share data, exposes how a lack of trust has hampered larger interoperability efforts.聽(Perna, 4/17)
For a company moving as quickly as possible to build artificial intelligence into everything 鈥 including health care 鈥 Microsoft spends a lot of time talking about how to regulate it. (Ross and Trang, 4/18)
Also 鈥
Genealogy companies like Ancestry.com and 23andMe have to get your permission before they store, use, or share your DNA, under the Genetic Information Privacy Act. However, the California Department of Public Health doesn't have to. In fact, the agency has been storing DNA samples from every baby born in California since the 1980s. Researchers can purchase those samples for state-approved studies and law enforcement can access them with a court order. (Watts, 4/17)
Anne Wojcicki is seeking to take her DNA-testing company 23andMe private after three years in public markets that saw the once-hot company鈥檚 valuation collapse from a high of $6 billion. Her intentions were revealed in a public filing late Wednesday, which stated that she is working with advisers to help craft a potential deal and intends to speak with potential partners and financing sources. The filing said she would oppose any other buyer taking over the company. (Winkler, 4/17)