California Enacts Privacy Protections For Brain Wave Data

California has become the second state in the nation to explicitly extend privacy rights to a person’s neural data under a measure signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Saturday.

The law (SB 1223) is similar to Colorado’s first-in-the-nation neural privacy law enacted in April. The home state of Silicon Valley now has in its comprehensive privacy law rights for consumers to protect their data from brain-scanning technology and its devices.

The legislation is a precautionary effort by privacy advocates concerned about a new arena of technology that is rapidly growing without regulations in place. Neural devices can ...