In September 2024, California quietly set a precedent. Lawmakers passed SB 1223, an amendment to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) that classifies neural data as “sensitive personal information.” For the first time in U.S. law, brain-derived signals such as electroencephalography (EEG) traces, functional MRI (fMRI) scans (a type of MRI imaging that measures and maps brain activity) or brain-computer interface (BCI) activity are treated as a category apart from other forms of biodata. The move may seem technical, but it signals a new public expectation: if companies intend to touch the brain, they will be held to stricter standards of stewardship, purpose limitation, and user control.

This is a threshold moment for neuroethics. It invites us to move beyond dystopian speculation ab

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