Mind control: Top neurotech firms can hoard and share patients' brain data

It's all in the small print. All 18 of the world's biggest neurotechnology companies have agreements with their test subjects and clients that allow the firms to take full possession of the data generated by their brains, leading neuroscientist Rafael Yuste said at a UNESCO conference on Thursday, previewing research due to be published in September.

Firms like Medtronic, NeuroVista, NeuroPace and Elon Musk's Neuralink are developing implants and scanners that allow them to read data from the brain and even stimulate thoughts, feelings and movement.

Yuste warned of a "complete lack of protection" over the privacy of people agreeing to take part in neurotechnology trials, saying that 17 out of the 18 firms also reserve the right to share cerebral data with third parties, who may then "do whatever they want with it."

Though for now we can only decipher snippets of brain activity, the amount we're able to decode continues to increase, and experts predict that artificial intelligence could soon help us paint a picture of exactly what someone is thinking while hooked up to a brain-computer interface.

At the conference, UNESCO called for increased regulatory efforts over the fast-moving technology, some uses for which have begun to emerge out of clinical trials.

Read more Paralysed man walks again thanks to thought-controlled implants

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