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Neurotechnology & the law

07 June 2024 / Harry Lambert
Issue: 8074 / Categories: Features , Profession , Technology , Artificial intelligence , Privacy
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In the first of a series of articles on the interplay between neurotechnology & different areas of law, Harry Lambert brings us up to speed on neurotech capabilities
  • Focuses on ‘neurorights’ from a legal perspective, including how they might apply to different areas of practice, and how other jurisdictions are seeking to protect them.

I want you to consider the list below. Each item is a potential application of monitoring, harvesting and analysing brain wave data from electroencephalograms (EEGs). But which of these neurotech capabilities do you think are: (a) possible in the near future; (b) possible in the long term; or (c) impossible?

In ascending order of radicality and/or dystopian-ness (if that is a word) here is the list:

(1) predicting who will suffer from degenerative diseases;

(2) monitoring levels of fatigue;

(3) checking that someone is listening to you/concentrating;

(4) direct brain-to-brain communication;

(5) ascertaining a subject’s political leanings, religious beliefs or amorous feelings;

(6) implanting dreams about products;

(7) scanning a suspect’s memory to check

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Gilson Gray—Linda Pope

Gilson Gray—Linda Pope

Partner joins family law team inLondon

Jackson Lees Group—five promotions

Jackson Lees Group—five promotions

Private client division announces five new partners

Taylor Wessing—Max Millington

Taylor Wessing—Max Millington

Banking and finance team welcomes partner in London

NEWS
The landmark Supreme Court’s decision in Johnson v FirstRand Bank Ltd—along with Rukhadze v Recovery Partners—redefine fiduciary duties in commercial fraud. Writing in NLJ this week, Mary Young of Kingsley Napley analyses the implications of the rulings
Barristers Ben Keith of 5 St Andrew’s Hill and Rhys Davies of Temple Garden Chambers use the arrest of Simon Leviev—the so-called Tinder Swindler—to explore the realities of Interpol red notices, in this week's NLJ
Mazur v Charles Russell Speechlys [2025] has upended assumptions about who may conduct litigation, warn Kevin Latham and Fraser Barnstaple of Kings Chambers in this week's NLJ. But is it as catastrophic as first feared?
Lord Sales has been appointed to become the Deputy President of the Supreme Court after Lord Hodge retires at the end of the year
Limited liability partnerships (LLPs) are reportedly in the firing line in Chancellor Rachel Reeves upcoming Autumn budget
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