Nomadsoul1 | Istock | Getty Images The question "What is a thought?" is no longer strictly a philosophical one. Like anything else measurable, our thoughts are subject to increasingly technical answers, with data captured by tracking brainwaves. That breakthrough also means the data is commodifiable, and captured brain data is already being bought and sold by companies in the wearable consumer technologies space, with few protections in place for users.
In response, Colorado recently passed a first-in-the-nation privacy act aimed at protecting these rights. The act falls under the existing "Colorado Consumer Protection Act," which aims to protect "the privacy of individuals' personal data by establishing certain requirements for entities that process personal data [and] includes additional protections for sensitive data." The key language in the Colorado act is the expansion of the term "sensitive data" to include "biological data" — inclusive of numerous biological, genetic, biochemical, physiological, and neural properties.
Elon Musk's Neuralink is the most famous example of how technology is being embedded with the human mind, though it isn't alone in the space, with Paradromics emerging as a close competitor, alongside devices that have returned speech to stroke victims and helped amputees move prosthetic limbs with their minds . All of these products are medical devices that require implantation, and are protected under HIPAA's strict privacy requirements. The Colorado.