Investigator: Elif Kiesow Cortez

Abstract:
The advancement of neurotechnology is posing a challenge to current forms of legal protection for mental privacy. Devices capable of recording, interpreting, or influencing neural activity, once confined to clinical research, are increasingly entering consumer, educational, and workplace environments. These systems generate neural data that can disclose emotions and moods, making the definition of personal data even more complex. Existing privacy and data protection frameworks might prove conceptually and structurally inadequate for this new technology capable of targeting cognitive activity. Building on comparative insights from US and EU regulatory frameworks, the analysis explores how legal standards can incorporate technical privacy-enhancing mechanisms, such as encryption, differential privacy, and local data processing, to operationalize the protection of neural information in sector-specific contexts. Integrating these legal and technical considerations, the paper aims to explore a framework for neural data governance that balances innovation incentives with the safeguarding of mental privacy. The paper addresses this by taking into account the broader legal context that includes aspects such as cognitive-rights recognition, sector-specific adaptation, and institutional oversight.