Neurotechnology and privacy: Navigating human rights and regulatory challenges in the age of neural data – MT 02 2025
13 May 2025 | 11:00 - 12:30 CEST | Hemicycle
Consolidated programme 2025
Proposals: (#10), #72, #82 (CoE)
Get involved!
You are invited to become a member of the Session Org Team by simply subscribing to the mailing list. By doing so, you agree that your name and affiliation will be published at the relevant session wiki page. Please reply to the email send to you to confirm your subscription.
Kindly note that it may take a while until the Org Team is formed and starts working.
To follow the current discussion on this topic, see the discussion tab on the upper left side of this page.
As neurotechnology advances, our thoughts may no longer be entirely private. A provocative discussion on the current and future state of mental privacy, brain-data regulation, and the human rights implications of technologies that can access or potentially even influence the mind.
Session description
If neurotechnology is science fiction, then we are living it. From brain-computer interfaces to emotion-tracking wearables, we are entering an era where technology can monitor, decode, or alter brain activity. But as neuroscience converges with AI and data-driven systems, urgent questions arise: What counts as “mental data”? How should we regulate access to the human mind? Do existing data protection laws go far enough?
As neurotechnology evolves from labs to daily life, humans’ thoughts, emotions, and brain activity are becoming the next frontier of data. This panel explores the emerging concepts of mental and neural data, and the implications of decoding or influencing the brain through technology. With a keynote from the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Privacy, followed by a debate led by two expert speakers, the session dives into the legal, ethical, and human rights challenges of protecting mental privacy in an era of brain-machine interfaces and cognitive surveillance. Audience participation will be central to shaping this critical conversation at the crossroads of tech, law, and humanity.
Guiding questions:
- How well do existing data protection frameworks (like Convention 108+ or GDPR) address the unique sensitivities of neural or cognitive data? Should we be thinking about a new legal category for “mental data”?
- In an increasingly interconnected digital ecosystem, neural data won’t exist in isolation. How should we understand the risks when brain data is combined with other personal data streams—like online behaviour, biometrics, or health records—and what challenges does this pose for governance and accountability on the internet?
Format
We introduce a new format for all Main Sessions. They are NOT panel discussion and conducted as follows:
- 30 min input (2 x 15' or 3 x 10' VIP / expert presentation)
- 45 min moderated discussion with the entire audience along a set of guiding questions
- 15 min agreeing on the messages
Interpretation in English and French.
Further reading
People
Please provide name and institution for all people you list here.
Programme Committee member(s)
- Minda Moreira, Internet Rights and Principles Coalition (IRPC)
- Moritz Taylor, Data Protection Unit, Council of Europe – Conseil de l'Europe
The Programme Committee supports the programme planning process and works closely with the Secretariat. Members of the committee give advice on the topics, cluster the proposals and assist session organisers in their work. They also ensure that session principles are followed and overlook the complete programme to avoid repetition among sessions.
Focal Point
- Moritz Taylor, Data Protection Unit, Council of Europe – Conseil de l'Europe
Focal Points take over the responsibility and lead of the session organisation. They work in close cooperation with the respective member of the Programme Committee and the EuroDIG Secretariat and are kindly requested to follow EuroDIG’s session principles.
Organising Team (Org Team) List Org Team members here as they sign up.
- Mariam Chaladze, ISET
The Org Team is shaping the session. Org Teams are open, and every interested individual can become a member by subscribing to the mailing list.
Key Participants
Key Participants (also speakers) are experts willing to provide their knowledge during a session. Key Participants should contribute to the session planning process and keep statements short and punchy during the session. They will be selected and assigned by the Org Team, ensuring a stakeholder balanced dialogue also considering gender and geographical balance. Please provide short CV’s of the Key Participants at the Wiki or link to another source.
Moderator
The moderator is the facilitator of the session at the event they must attend on-site. Moderators are responsible for including the audience and encouraging a lively interaction among all session attendants. Please make sure the moderator takes a neutral role and can balance between all speakers. Please provide short CV of the moderator of your session at the Wiki or link to another source.
Remote Moderator
Trained remote moderators will be assigned by the EuroDIG secretariat to each session.
Reporter
The members of the Programme Committee report on the session and formulate messages that are agreed with the audience by consensus.
Through a cooperation with the Geneva Internet Platform AI generated session reports and stats will be available after EuroDIG.
Current discussion, conference calls, schedules and minutes
See the discussion tab on the upper left side of this page. Please use this page to publish:
- dates for virtual meetings or coordination calls
- short summary of calls or email exchange
Please be as open and transparent as possible in order to allow others to get involved and contact you. Use the wiki not only as the place to publish results but also to summarize the discussion process.
Messages
- are summarised on a slide and presented to the audience at the end of each session
- relate to the session and to European Internet governance policy
- are forward looking and propose goals and activities that can be initiated after EuroDIG (recommendations)
- are in (rough) consensus with the audience
Video record
Will be provided here after the event.
Transcript
Will be provided here after the event.