Photo by Михаил Крамор on Pexels

Three Democratic senators are pushing for increased oversight of neurotechnology companies, requesting that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigate their data handling practices. Senators Chuck Schumer, Maria Cantwell, and Ed Markey have formally appealed to the FTC, expressing apprehension about the potential sale and misuse of sensitive neural data collected by brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) and other neurotech devices. In their letter, the senators stressed the exceptionally private and insightful characteristics of brain data, pointing out that even anonymized data could expose an individual’s mental health status, emotional state, and cognitive tendencies. They argue that this information is both profoundly personal and strategically vulnerable. While neurotech innovations like Neuralink often grab headlines, the senators are focusing on the expanding market of consumer-grade neurotech, like headsets designed for meditation, lucid dreaming, and even online dating. These readily available devices gather considerable neurological data, creating privacy and security risks in a largely unregulated sector.