Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Commentary
  • Published:

Brain leaks and consumer neurotechnology

Nature Biotechnology volume 36, pages 805–810 (2018)Cite this article

Subjects

An Author Correction to this article was published on 06 June 2019

Greater safeguards are needed to address the personal safety, security and privacy risks arising from increasing adoption of neurotechnology in the consumer realm.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: DTC applications of neurotechnology.

References

  1. Fernandez A., Sriraman, N., Gurewitz, B. & Oullier, O. Market Report on Pervasive Neurotechnology: A Groundbreaking Analysis of 10,000+ Patent Filings Transforming Medicine, Health, Entertainment and Business. (SharpBrains, San Francisco, USA, 2017). https://doi.org/sharpbrains.com/pervasive-neurotechnology/.

  2. Martinovic, I. et al. in USENIX Security Symposium 143–158 (2012). https://doi.org/www.usenix.org/conference/usenixsecurity12/technical-sessions/presentation/martinovic.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Bonaci, T. in USENIX Enigma (Oakland, CA; 2017). https://doi.org/www.usenix.org/conference/enigma2017

    Google Scholar 

  4. Davis, N.J. & van Koningsbruggen, M.G. Front. Syst. Neurosci. 7, 76 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Medina, J. & Cason, S. Cortex 94, 131–141 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Mecacci, G. & Haselager, P. Sci. Eng. Ethics, (in press).

  7. Nishimoto, S. et al. Curr. Biol. 21, 1641–1646 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Boto, E. et al. Nature 555, 657–661 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Charo, R.A. Science 349, 384–385 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Anon. Symantec. Internet security threat report. (April 21, 2016). https://doi.org/www.symantec.com/content/dam/symantec/docs/reports/istr-21-2016-en.pdf

  11. Green, R.M. Hastings Cent. Rep. 45, 36–37 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Eaton, M.L. & Illes, J. Nat. Biotechnol. 25, 393–397 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Ienca, M. & Haselager, P. Ethics Inf. Technol. 18, 117–129 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Mobasheri, M.H. et al. BMJ Innov. 1, 174–181 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Sharp, R. Lacking regulation, many medical apps questionable at best. New England Center for Investigative Reporting 18 (2012). https://doi.org/necir.org/2012/11/18/medical-apps

    Google Scholar 

  16. Farah, M.J. & Wolpe, P.R. Hastings Cent. Rep. 34, 35–45 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Moreno, J.D. Mind Wars: Brain Science and the Military in the Twenty-First Century (Bellevue Literary Press, 2012).

    Google Scholar 

  18. Ienca, M., Jotterand, F. & Elger, B.S. Neuron 97, 269–274 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Farahany, N.A. Univ. Pa. Law Rev. 160, 1239–1308 (2012).

    Google Scholar 

  20. US Department of Health and Human Services. Summary of the HIPAA privacy rule. (Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC, 2003).

  21. Food & Drug Administration. Mobile medical applications: guidance for industry and Food and Drug Administration staff. (Food and Drug Administration, Washington, DC, 2013).

  22. Steinhubl, S.R., Muse, E.D. & Topol, E.J. Sci. Transl. Med. 7, 283 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. National Institutes of Health. NIH Request for Information (RFI): Guidance for Opportunities in Neuroethics. NIH BRAIN Initiative (2016) https://doi.org/grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-MH-16-014.html.

  24. Obar, J.A. & Oeldorf-Hirsch, A. The Biggest Lie on the Internet: Ignoring the Privacy Policies and Terms of Service Policies of Social Networking Services. in The 44th Research Conference on Communication, Information and Internet Policy (2016). https://doi.org/ssrn.com/abstract=2757465.

  25. Bonaci, T., Herron, J., Matlack, C. & Chizeck, H.J. IEEE Technology and Society Magazine 34, 44–51 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Bonaci, T., Calo, R. & Chizeck, H.J. IEEE Technology and Society Magazine 34, 32–39 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Baker, M. Nat. Biotechnol. 25, 377–379 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Stopczynski A, Stahlhut C, Larsen JE, Petersen MK, Hansen LK. PLoS One 9, e86733 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences (KZS 20/17).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Marcello Ienca is at the Health Ethics & Policy Lab, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland,

    Marcello Ienca

  2. and at the Institute for Biomedical Ethics, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland,

    Marcello Ienca

  3. Pim Haselager is at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands,

    Pim Haselager

  4. Ezekiel J. Emanuel is at the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.,

    Ezekiel J Emanuel

Authors
  1. Marcello Ienca
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Pim Haselager
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ezekiel J Emanuel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marcello Ienca.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ienca, M., Haselager, P. & Emanuel, E. Brain leaks and consumer neurotechnology. Nat Biotechnol 36, 805–810 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.4240

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.4240

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing