Your Brain Is Not for Sale… Except Maybe It Already Is

Here’s a scary thought for you to let bounce around your brain for a moment or two: last week, three U.S. senators called on the FTC to investigate neurotechnology companies that are allegedly collecting and selling brain data. Not your browser history, not your location, I’m talking about your actual brain signals.

There’s a quiet transaction happening that doesn’t have any receipts or push notification that says, “Hey, someone just scraped your consciousness and sold it for ad targeting.”

But it’s happening right now, as you read this.

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), once a sci-fi concept that belonged to dystopian novels and fringe academic papers, are now a very real, very profitable industry. And as with anything profitable, the question isn’t if your data is being used.
It’s how much it’s worth and who’s buying. Because, of course people are already buying your brain data.

This isn’t fear-mongering (although, I get why you might assume it is), this is the next frontier of data mining.
And if we’re not paying attention, we’ll hand over our last truly private territory: the thoughts we haven’t even spoken aloud yet.

What Are Neurotech Companies Actually Doing?

Okay, so brain-computer interfaces are devices that connect your brain to a machine in some way/shape/form. They basically read your neural activity and translate it into commands, move a cursor, type with your thoughts, maybe one day drive a car or play a violin without lifting a finger.

It’s wild, powerful, and deeply beautiful science. But as with all powerful things, it has a dark underbelly that most people don’t want to talk about.

BCIs don’t just receive your commands when you try to move your cursor, they also collect the signals behind those commands. Essentially, the patterns and the raw neurological data your brain is spitting out.

That information, which is your cognitive signature, can say things about you that you haven’t even realized yourself yet. Mood, focus, arousal, stress (as if we don’t already know we’re stressed), reaction time, risk tolerance, memory access, and even predictive decisions.

And companies out there are building algorithms to map those things.
To predict them and to sell them.

Meet the Companies Harvesting Our Brains

This isn’t a conspiracy theory blog (despite what some of my co-workers think!). This is a reality check here to shake you awake and make you look away from social media long enough to realize what’s going on around us.

There are a lot of companies working on this, but let’s hit the top four that caught my eye.

Neuralink (Elon Musk’s company) has been developing implantable BCIs that read and write brain activity. Their goal is “symbiosis with AI.” They say it’s for medical breakthroughs. But Musk also talks about enhancing human performance and gaming with your mind, so you be the judge.

Meta (Facebook) is, of course, in on this trying to sell everything they possibly can about you. They previously ran a secretive neurotech division trying to create non-invasive BCIs for controlling AR and VR with your thoughts. The team was absorbed into their Reality Labs division.

Kernel is another you might not have heard of before. It’s more focused on wearable neuroimaging helmets that can measure brain activity with millisecond accuracy. Their founder believes brain data is the next gold mine for health, learning, and commerce. I’m sure he’s not wrong, but ethically, there has to be a gray area.

NextMind (acquired by Snap) is the last one that really grabbed my attention. These guys built a headband to let users control digital interfaces with their visual focus and intention. Snap’s interest is mostly augmented reality. And you, of course, your brain.

Let me be clear and say many of these companies have noble goals in mind.
Helping paralyzed patients, restoring memory, fighting Alzheimer’s, the list goes on and on of what they intend on doing with their brain chips.

But we’ve seen how quickly noble tech becomes profitable surveillance.
Social media started as a way to connect with friends.
Now it tracks your emotions, shopping habits, and sleep cycles while keeping you highly addicted and depressing you at the same time.

BCI is just the next layer deeper.

What Even Is Brain Data?

It’s easy to think of “brain data” as sci-fi jargon, but it’s not abstract. It’s just electrical activity like tiny voltage fluctuations measured through EEG, MEG, or implanted electrodes. And these signals contain patterns within our bodies.

Those patterns are gold to a lot of companies.
They can reveal what you’re paying attention to, how strongly you feel about something (manipulation is easy to do if anyone feels strongly about anything, remember!), whether you’re confused, stressed, or focused, if your brain is showing signs of neurological decline, as well as how likely you are to click on something.

Brain data isn’t just a biometric signal, it’s more like a map of your internal experience.
It’s behavior before behavior happens.

Why Senators Are Getting Involved

Senators Elizabeth Warren, Ed Markey, and Richard Blumenthal recently called on the FTC to regulate how neurotech companies collect and monetize brain data.
Their letter raises three major concerns that we really should be talking about.

Consent is the one that hits hardest of these three. Most people don’t realize what’s being collected, putting on a headset to play a game is cool and all, but is your stress level being monitored? Is that being stored?

Users also aren’t being told how their data is processed or shared. Are third-party advertisers getting your neural response to their product? What are they doing with that data?

Lastly, if the industry goes unregulated, it could lead to biometric surveillance at a level we’ve never seen, where your reactions, decisions, and emotions are commodified in real-time. Nope. I’m not for it.

They’re right to sound the alarm, because brain data isn’t just another layer of data, it’s the final frontier. (Sorry for the StarTrek reference).

Let’s Talk About the Ethics

We’re standing at the edge of something big. Bigger than cookies, and way bigger than TikTok’s algorithm.
We’re talking about the commodification of consciousness.

Let’s be brutally honest with each other for a moment or two, we already gave up our privacy online. We already allowed emotion tracking in our social feeds, and now we’re on the verge of surrendering what we feel before we even speak or act.

If brain data becomes part of your consumer profile, it opens the door to predictive marketing so advanced, to me it just screams manipulation.

Imagine ads that trigger precisely when your brain is most receptive, or contracts or agreements you “mentally agreed to” based on intention signals. Content feeds sculpted in real-time based on your stress or arousal level could literally just take your money faster than you could’ve ever anticipated.

Sounds insane, right?
Well, so did location tracking in 2004. Where are we now?

The Problem With Convenience

The trouble with BCI isn’t just the tech.
It’s how it’s marketed to all of us.

You’ll hear: “Control your music with your mind!” “Navigate games faster!” “Stay focused longer!”

Sounds fun, sounds productive, but in the fine print?
“By using this device, you agree to let us process your brain activity for product development, research, and advertising.”

And just like that, you’ve traded your mental state for a dopamine boost.

We do it every day though, swipe for convenience, trade for privacy.

Related read: These Hobbies Trigger Your Brain’s Dopamine Response…if you’re going to chase dopamine, at least do it consciously.

Can You Protect Yourself?

Right now, brain data harvesting isn’t as widespread as internet data, but it’s coming. So what can you do?

Avoid neurotech that lacks clear privacy policies.
If a company can’t explain what data they collect and who sees it, skip it.

Use EMF-blocking gear if you're around high-frequency devices like this EMF Protection Headband.
While it doesn’t “block brain reading,” it can reduce unnecessary exposure to radiation and wireless interference.

Push for legislation and support efforts like the proposed “NeuroRights” bill: a framework to protect mental privacy, identity, and agency.

Stay aware of what’s going on around you. Curiosity is protection in today’s day and age. Once you understand how something works, it’s harder to manipulate you with it. Read blogs like mine more and see some of the dangers of tech that they don’t want you to think about.

This Isn’t Just About Technology

To me, this is about what it means to be human.

We’ve spent thousands of years trying to understand the mind and now we’re wiring it up, translating it into ones and zeroes, and packaging it for market research.

And yes, it’s exciting, yes, it could help people.
But only if we ask the right questions.

Questions like what happens if your brain signals are hacked? Can your neural identity be stolen? What does informed consent look like when the data comes from thoughts you didn’t know you were having?

Are all the days I spend working hard waiting tables, being a sommelier, blogging every day, working on Blockchain Botany, will the money I eventually make all just be manipulated right into someone else’s pocket?

The world isn’t ending, so sorry if I went too far down the rabbit hole and dragged you along with me.
Your brain isn’t being stolen tomorrow, but the slope is slippery, and I’m passionate about consent.
History shows that once data becomes profitable, it gets exploited.

We don’t need to panic, we just need to pay attention for now.

Also, we need to decide that some parts of ourselves aren’t for sale.
Not our dreams, our fears, or the fleeting, messy thoughts that make us human.

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