{"id":12,"date":"2026-04-07T14:36:52","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T14:36:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/07\/your-brain-for-sale-the-new-frontier-of-neural-data\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T14:36:52","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T14:36:52","slug":"your-brain-for-sale-the-new-frontier-of-neural-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/07\/your-brain-for-sale-the-new-frontier-of-neural-data\/","title":{"rendered":"Your brain for sale? The new frontier of neural data"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/span> DC Studio\/Shutterstock<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Your browsing history, your location, your political preferences. For years, tech companies have found ways to turn personal data into profit. Now, a new and far more intimate frontier is opening: the electrical signals produced by your brain.<\/p>\n

This is not science fiction. Nor is it about brain<\/a> implants for paralysed patients or experimental medical procedures. A fast-growing consumer market of non-invasive neurotechnology \u2013 wearable headsets, brain activity-reading headbands, focus-enhancing devices \u2013 is already here, already being sold and already collecting neural data<\/a> from ordinary users. But the legal<\/a> and ethical<\/a> frameworks to govern it are struggling to keep up.<\/p>\n

A landmark case from Chile shows why this matters.<\/p>\n

In August 2023, Chile\u2019s Supreme Court issued the world\u2019s first ruling on commercial neurodata<\/a>. The case involved Senator Guido Girardi and Emotiv Inc<\/a>, a San Francisco company selling the Insight wireless headset \u2013 a consumer device marketed for focus, meditation and cognitive performance.<\/p>\n

When Girardi began using it, he discovered that accepting the terms of service meant granting Emotiv a worldwide, irrevocable and perpetual licence over his brain data. Unless he paid for a premium account, that data would be stored in Emotiv\u2019s cloud<\/a> with no way for him to access or export his own neural records.<\/p>\n

The Chilean Supreme Court ruled<\/a> that Emotiv had violated Girardi\u2019s constitutional right to mental integrity<\/a>, concluding: \u201cThe data obtained from Insight users \u2026 overlooks the preliminary requirement to have express consent for its use for scientific research purposes. Information collected for various purposes cannot be used differently without its owner\u2019s knowledge and approval.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court ordered the company to delete Girardi\u2019s data immediately and prohibited sale of the Insight device in Chile until its privacy policies were revised. The headsets remain on sale in other countries around the world.<\/p>\n

Promotional video by Emotiv for its electroencephalography (EEG) brain headsets.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The ruling was a first. But the problem it exposed is global \u2013 and the legal pressure is building. In the US, Colorado and California enacted the first state-level privacy laws specifically governing neural data<\/a> in 2024, and at least six other states are now moving in the same direction.<\/p>\n

At the federal level, US senators Chuck Schumer, Maria Cantwell and Ed Markey announced plans in September 2025 to introduce the Mind Act \u2013 Congress\u2019s first serious attempt to bring the neurotechnology industry under a dedicated regulatory framework<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A market growing faster than its rules<\/h2>\n

Emotiv is far from alone. Companies such as Muse<\/a> (marketed for meditation and sleep) and Neurosity<\/a> (aimed at software developers seeking focus) have built a consumer neurotechnology sector that is projected to double in value to more than US$55 billion (\u00a342 billion) within a decade. It is attracting investment<\/a> from some of the world\u2019s wealthiest technology figures<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n \"Alt<\/a>
\n <\/span>
\n Precedence Research (August 2025)<\/a>, CC BY-SA<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

These devices read electroencephalography<\/a> (EEG) signals \u2013 the brain\u2019s electrical activity \u2013 through sensors worn on the head. Some go further, using photoplethysmography<\/a> (PPG) sensors to measure heart rate and physiological responses. Think of this like a fitness tracker \u2013 but instead of counting steps, it is reading signals from your nervous system and, in some cases, inferring your cognitive or emotional states from them.<\/p>\n

When fitness trackers<\/a> first appeared, few people thought carefully about where their heart rate data was going, who could access it, or what it could be used to infer. Neural data raises those same questions \u2013 at considerably higher stakes. Unlike step counts, brain signals<\/a> can potentially reveal attention patterns<\/a>, stress responses<\/a> and emotional reactions<\/a> that users themselves may not be aware of.<\/p>\n

Where the law has not yet caught up<\/h2>\n

We research these issues as part of the interdisciplinary group<\/a> at Lund University, which brings together law, neuroscience, medicine, ethics and economics.<\/p>\n

The Emotiv case turned on Chile\u2019s constitutional protection of mental integrity<\/a> \u2013 a provision the country had specifically enshrined in 2021. Most jurisdictions have no equivalent. The question of how neural data fits into existing legal frameworks remains open.<\/p>\n

Under the EU\u2019s General Data Protection Regulation<\/a>, brain signals could potentially qualify as biometric or health data, both of which attract stronger protections. But consumer neurotechnology<\/a>, when sold as wellness products rather than medical devices, often falls into a regulatory grey area<\/a>, sitting awkwardly between health law, consumer protection and data privacy rules.<\/p>\n

What remains unresolved across most of the world are the basic questions. What are users consenting to when they accept terms of service for a neural headset? How long can that data be retained? Can it be sold to third parties, used to train AI models, or shared with advertisers and insurers?<\/p>\n

The Emotiv case showed that, in one instance at least, a company had retained a user\u2019s neural data for research purposes under anonymisation provisions, without that user having any meaningful awareness of what was being collected or why.<\/p>\n

The stakes here are higher than with most forms of personal data<\/a>. Neural signals are not like a credit card number that can be changed if compromised. Generated by your brain in real time, they can increasingly be used to infer things about you that you have not chosen to disclose \u2013 such as emotional responses, cognitive patterns, and other reactions you may not consciously be aware of.<\/p>\n

Chile has showed that courts can act. Legislators in several jurisdictions are beginning to follow. The harder question is whether the frameworks being built<\/a> are moving fast enough to match a market that, in the quest for competitive advantage, does not want to hang about waiting for them.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Alberto Rinaldi receives funding from the Swedish Research Council (2024-2027).
\nHe has also received founding from the Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation (2022-2024). <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Johan M\u00e5rtensson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DC Studio\/Shutterstock Your browsing history, your location, your political preferences. For years, tech companies have found ways to turn personal data into profit. Now, a new and far more intimate frontier is opening: the electrical signals produced by your brain. This is not science fiction. Nor is it about brain implants for paralysed patients or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}