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The Next Frontier in Data Privacy? Your Brain
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’s privacy policy.
These consumer devices are unlikely to include any protections or restrictions around how companies can employ or sell a user’s neural data, according to a new report from the Neurorights Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates for the ethical development of neurotechnology.
The group analyzed the user agreements and privacy policies for 30 companies that sell commercially available products. Only one company provided any meaningful restrictions on how users’ data could be employed or whether the company could sell user data to third parties.
Fewer than half of the companies surveyed encrypt their data and de-identify users. In the medical world, patients must consent if doctors want to share their private health information. But HIPAA doesn’t apply to these companies.
Colorado Enacted a Law Meant to Stop Tech Companies Sharing Your Brain-Wave Data
Lawmakers in Colorado have passed a law aimed at protecting a new frontier in privacy: your brain activity.
Gov. Jared Polis signed the new law after it passed in the Colorado House by a vote of 61-to-1 and in the Senate 34-to-0. The bill takes aim at the growing neurotechnology industry.
In simple terms, the Protect Privacy of Biological Data Act expands the definition of “sensitive data” in the state’s privacy laws to encompass biological and neural data.
“Data concerning the activity of the human brain and wider nervous systems, or ‘neural data,’ is extremely sensitive and can reveal intimate information about individuals, including information about health, mental states, emotions, and cognitive functioning,” the bill stated.
U.S. Government Tried to Spy on People, Telegram Founder Claims
The United States government wanted a so-called “backdoor” into Telegram to potentially spy on its users, according to the messaging app’s founder. Pavel Durov, who launched Telegram in 2013 and currently serves as its CEO, made the claim during an interview with Tucker Carlson that aired on Tuesday night.
“We get too much attention from, you know, the FBI, the security agencies, whenever we came to the U.S.,” Durov told Carlson before alleging the U.S. government attempted to lure a Telegram engineer into teaching them how to potentially spy on users.
“They were curious to learn which open-source libraries are integrated into the Telegram app. You know, on the client side,” Durov said. “And they were trying to persuade him to use certain open source tools that he would then integrate into the Telegram code that, in my understanding, would serve as backdoors.”
Carlson then pressed Durov on whether a backdoor on the messaging app “would allow the U.S. government to spy on people who use Telegram.”
“The U.S. government, or maybe any other government, because a backdoor is a backdoor regardless of who is using it. That’s right,” he said.
Kids Can’t Wait Any Longer for Social Media Safety
When my son Conall took his life at age 17, it was devastating to me and our entire family. Conall was a caring, empathetic, and bright young man, but he had also struggled for many years with anxiety and depression. Like many kids his age, much of his life revolved around social media. While I understand that suicide is complex, with many different factors contributing to someone’s risk for it, I know that social media intensified and fueled Conall’s insecurities and ultimately had a significant impact on his decision to die by suicide.
As a pediatrician for more than 30 years, this is something I’ve seen happen more and more often over the years. Throughout the course of my work, I’ve seen the evolution of the internet and its impact on children from long before the days when everyone had a smartphone. I’ve witnessed tremendous changes in the kids I’ve taken care of — there’s no question that children in the U.S. are growing up in a fundamentally different world than the one their parents knew.
Today, kids live in a fully digital ecosystem. Few adults stop to think about the fact that the internet and social media platforms were never designed with kids in mind. I’ve been seeing more and more children with anxiety, depression, social isolation, insomnia, and other mental health challenges that were rare among youngsters when I began my career. While these cannot be wholly attributed to social media, it’s hard to ignore the impact these platforms have had on kids and teens.
There are millions of parents like me who have watched our children come of age in an unrestricted and unprotected digital universe devoid of any guardrails that can keep them safe. It’s time to take action to protect children online.
Dr. Phil: People Need to Plan for Next Pandemic so Govt Can’t Tell Us ‘What We Can and Can’t Do’
Dr. Phil McGraw said on his syndicated television show this week that Americans need to have a conversation about limiting the government’s powers over the people in case another pandemic occurs.
McGraw made the remarks after repeatedly warning throughout the pandemic about the dangers that the lockdowns would have on people, especially children.
“When I stepped up in the beginning and said this lockdown, this quarantine, is going to create more problems with quality of life than that COVID is going to do in taking lives — people looked at me like I was insane,” he said. “I got criticized, called a ‘heretic,’ ‘what is he talking about?’ I’ll tell you what I was talking about, I was talking about exactly what happened and is happening.”
He concluded, “But I’m saying we need to think about whether we’re going to rely on science, and how we’re going to react when the government comes in and starts telling us what we can and can’t do. I think we need less government. I think if they would step back, we tend to have a way to work these things out.”
House to Discuss National Data Privacy Bill With Implications for Healthcare
The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Innovation will hold a hearing on Wednesday to discuss data privacy and the protection of kids online.
Among a slew of bills to be discussed is a draft data privacy bill unveiled last week that would regulate all sectors of the American economy, including healthcare. The legislation is sponsored by Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Washington, and Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Washington.
The bipartisan draft data privacy law, the American Privacy Rights Act (APRA), would give consumers the right to access, correct and delete personal data gathered and shared by companies. Entities subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) are generally exempt from the draft law but would need to comply with its data security provisions if passed. Also slated to be discussed at the hearing are the Kids Online Safety Act and the Algorithmic Accountability Act of 2023, among others.
APRA would also give consumers more rights over their health information that falls outside of HIPAA’s purview, which could include search queries, interactions with chatbots, information recorded on fitness and mental health apps and trackers on health-related websites and telehealth platforms, one witness’s testimony says. It would also grant consumers a private right of action against companies that unlawfully transmit or collect covered data.
Telehealth Firm Cerebral Fined $7 Million Over ‘Careless’ Privacy Violations
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is proposing a $7 million fine against Cerebral, a mental telehealth firm that it says not only was careless with patients’ data but actively shared it with third parties for advertising purposes. The company and its CEO, Kyle Robertson, are also accused of lying to customers about how their data is shared and of having a misleading cancellation policy.
The FTC notes that Cerebral shared the sensitive data “of nearly 3.2 million consumers” with third parties like LinkedIn, TikTok, and Snapchat through trackers on its website or apps — something the company admitted to last year. That apparently included details like home and email addresses, phone numbers, pharmacy and health insurance details, and medical history.
Many of Cerebral’s ads were misleading, promoting ADHD treatment by, for instance, linking ADHD to obesity.
EU Officials Dodge Their Own Surveillance Law
Do as I say — not as I do. That’s the essence of a leak that claims to expose high-ranked EU officials as more than simply politicking hypocrites when it comes to implementing the extremely controversial legislation affecting online privacy and encryption.
Namely, interior ministers from EU member countries reportedly want to exempt themselves — but not only — from the looming Child Sexual Abuse (CSAM) Regulation (aka, “chat control“), expected to be adopted as early as in June.
Pushed by supporters as being exactly what it says on the tin — the proposed new rules are at the same time criticized as a vehicle for indiscriminate mass surveillance of everyone’s online communications, and a way to weaken true encryption deployed by platforms — a vital component of internet security, once again, affecting everyone who goes online, children included.
AI-Powered World Health Chatbot Is Flubbing Some Answers
Bloomberg via Yahoo!Finance reported:
The World Health Organization is wading into the world of AI to provide basic health information through a human-like avatar. But while the bot responds sympathetically to users’ facial expressions, it doesn’t always know what it’s talking about.
SARAH, short for Smart AI Resource Assistant for Health, is a virtual health worker that’s available to talk 24/7 in eight different languages to explain topics like mental health, tobacco use and healthy eating. It’s part of the WHO’s campaign to find technology that can both educate people and fill staffing gaps with the world facing a healthcare worker shortage.
WHO warns on its website that this early prototype, introduced on April 2, provides responses that “may not always be accurate.” Some of SARAH’s AI training is years behind the latest data. And the bot occasionally provides bizarre answers, known as hallucinations in AI models, that can spread misinformation about public health.
