(PS: The device picture shown above is a conceptual replica. It was not actually built and Mr Palmer was perhaps terminated by Meta for other reasons and not for developing this lethal idea. But the danger of the concept seems plausible and could be built by others)It is surprising how some criminal minds work. When I urged the need for Neuro Rights legislation in India during his speech at the IDPS 2022, the existence of a concept like Oculus VR set with a possible Microwave blast was not highlighted. I only highlighted the developments of Neuro Technology such as Brain Implants and Brain Computer Interfaces that can be misused by the operators to unauthorizedly alter the human mind by manipulating the neuro data.
Mr Palmer Luckey who is identified as an “Entrepreneur” by the Wikipedia is associated with a potential invention of a VR set which can have an embedded Microwave bomb that gets triggered when the wearer is playing a video game and get killed. The Microwave blast would be directed at the brain of the head set wearer killing him in physical life.
Law makers need to seriously think if this technology development is not stopped right now, will it not be a facilitation of plain “Murder” or “Abatement to suicide”?
If so, it is time to endorse the need for Neuro rights legislation in India now.
The basic requirement of law is
a) Recognize the form of “Neuro Data” as a kind of data coming under “Protected data”
b) Recognize “Neuro privacy” as a kind of “Protected right”
c) Recognize “harm” due to neurological manipulations
c) Recognized a higher level of “Consent” called “Witnessed Consent” to protect Neuro right
The rest of the law related to penalties and punishments can be considered under other provisions of the data protection act as well as ITA 2000 and IPC as a “Contravention of law”. The Oculus must me considered as a weapon of death and its inventor and distributor should be punishable under law including punishment of death for third degree murder or attempt thereof.
Considering the urgent need for legislative protection, apart from using other provisions under the “Gaming Control Notification” that the Government is considering, the law on Personal Data Protection, a draft of which is expected to be released anytime must include provisions of Neuro Rights Protection.
Some of the suggested provisions are as follows.
1.“Neuro Data” may be defined as- “Neuro data means the electromagnetic signals that are collected from or fed into the human brain by a Brain Computer Interface in binary form.”
2.“Neuro Privacy” may be defined as- “Neuro Privacy” means the choice of an individual to determine to what extent the individual may share his neuro space with others”
3.“Neurological harm” may be defined as – Neurological manipulation which alters the ability of an individual to take autonomous decisions” should be added to the definition of harm to extend the “psychological manipulations”
4.“Witnessed Consent” may be defined as- consent provided by a data principal which is witnessed by independent third parties who donot have conflicting interest in the processing of the personal data under circumstances that the data principal may not be reasonably expected to provide a free consent, and includes sharing of neuro data or sharing of personal data when the data principal is not in a medical condition to provide informed consent.”
I would urge readers to read the series of articles on the suggestions for the new data protection law available at here.
Readers can also view the keynote address of naavi at IDPS 2022 which is available below.
I request viewers to send their views on whether the time has come to bring Neuro Rights into the Indian law in the current “Draft Digital Personal Data Protection Bill” that the Government is now contemplating.
Please join your voice here so that when FDPPI submits its request to the Government to add these provisions into the draft, your voice will also be heard.
Naavi
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