The end for freedom of thought? On the commercial use of big brain data

Silja Vöneky, Philipp Kellmeyer, Christiane Miethge The session
will start with a video showing parts of the web documentary "Homo
Digitalis". The panelists will then discuss, together with the
audience, the ethical, legal and social implications of the
convergence of consumer neurotechnology with big data and advanced
machine learning. After all, the brain is not any old organ: it is
the seat of our feelings, desires, personality, attitude,
creativity and thoughts. Gaining access to this rich trove of
highly personal biometric data via advanced neurotechnology may be
an enticing prospect for companies that want to harness this data
for potentially unprecedented levels of personalization of their
services, e.g. targeted advertising. Yet, thus far, there is no
wide ranging public disocurse or deliberation of the potential
threats of this development for the privileged privacy and the
freedom of our thoughts, feelings and other mental states. Do
existing regimens for protecting biomedical data suffice to manage
this potential flood of Big Brain Data? Can technology, such as
blockchain, federated learning or differential privacy, protect
users' brain data from unwarranted access and commercial
exploitation? Who will decide over the priorities for research and
applications as experts in data science and machine learning
systematically move from public research institutions to the
private sector? In the first part of the session, we will present
the benefits and risks of this scenario from a medical, scientific,
legal and neuroethical perspective. In the second part, we will
engage the audience in discussing and deliberating about possible
solutions for these ethical, legal and social challenges.