California legislators want to get a jump on regulating brain implants and sensors, as fears that neurotechnology could be exploited by employers to read workers’ minds without direct consent grow among critics, writes CalMatters’ Khari Johnson.
Neurotech systems such as brain implants and sensors gather information using computer chips embedded in the brain or sensors installed in wearable devices such as earbuds, wristbands and augmented reality headsets. The technology has helped blind people see, paralyzed people speak and those living with neurological disorders work and communicate.
Currently, neurotechnology in the workplace is used to detect focus or fatigue. But critics of the technology are concerned that it could be used by employers to monitor workers and make predictions about them.
It could be used, they argue, to detect mental health disorders, which could lead to discriminatory hiring or firing decisions. Neurotechnology could also be used to predict words or images that form in a person’s mind, which employers could take advantage of during salary negotiations or to bust unions.
- Stephen Damianos of the Neurorights Foundation, a proponent of neural data regulation: Without regulation, “enormous new risks emerge. … So there’s an urgent need to act now before it becomes the norm that brain data is accessed without consent or used to influence decisions.”
Two bills aim to rein in those risks: One by Assemblymember Isaac Bryan would prohibit the collection of brain data by employers. The other would expand state privacy law to block the sale of brain data.
Major employers, local governments and industry groups representing assisted living facilities, hospitals and grocers oppose Bryan’s bill. They say that the Inglewood Democrat’s proposal is too broad and would prevent them from using tools that ensure safe driving, detect theft and stop inappropriate behavior toward customers.
CalMatters events: CalMatters and inewsource are hosting a conversation Thursday in San Ysidro about the Tijuana River contamination crisis, an environmental emergency affecting millions on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. Register here.
Other Stories You Should Know
Rules for burying carbon emissions
For the past three months, California’s largest oil producer has been burying carbon dioxide underground as part of an endeavor to curb climate change. The project, which is backed by state leaders, is novel but risky — and the company has been doing this without rules state regulators were ordered to put in place by last year, reports CalMatters’ Alejandro Lazo.
In 2022, state lawmakers directed the California Air Resources Board to come up with rules related to carbon capture, a practice that traps emissions before they’re released in the atmosphere. The law required rules to be put in place by January 2025 that would govern how companies would monitor stored carbon and respond if something failed.
But it’s been 19 months since the deadline, and the state still does not have its carbon storage rules on the books. The issue has taken on an urgency given that California Resources Corp. has been burying carbon since May at Elk Hills, an oil field in rural Kern County.
Air board officials said staffing issues kept them from making the deadline, but pointed to some federal and county oversight that exist in the meantime.
P.S. Send her tips 👋
We’re thrilled to introduce you to our newest tech reporter, Katherine Ortiz. She will cover the ways the industry shapes the lives of everyday Californians — including the proliferation of autonomous vehicles and data centers, cybersecurity threats and policy, and the influence of lobbying across the state.
She joins the team from Business Insider, where she covered leadership, tech and innovation stories across industries. Her work there included an investigation into sonic booms caused by SpaceX rocket launches that rattle the homes of residents outside Vandenberg Space Force Base, as well as chronicling major legal actions against companies like Google, Anthropic and OpenAI.
You can also find her byline at publications including the San Fernando Valley Business Journal, WitnessLA and LA Taco. Based in the Central Coast, Katherine is a graduate of Moorpark Community College, California Lutheran University and the University of Southern California.
You can reach her at katherine@calmatters.org or securely, on the encrypted messaging app Signal, at @bykatherineortiz.93.
California Voices
Local governments that serve East Los Angeles need to establish a small business resiliency fund that immigrant entrepreneurs can have access to, before the next fire, spill or immigration raid hits the region, writes Sonia Campos-Rivera, senior vice president of education policy and public affairs at UNITE-LA.
Other things worth your time:
Trump targets birthright citizenship again after Supreme Court loss // The Hill (free)
Fresno County erupts as Newsom accused of overreaching with better roads tax // California Post (free)
Suisun City declares state of emergency after cyberattack // KQED (free)
Most Californians turn from renters to homeowners by age 47. In other states, it’s 36 // LAist (free)
LA has more than 20K vacant lots. They could help solve the city’s housing crisis // Los Angeles Times (paywall)
Shasta judge suspends voter ID Measure B, pending further court order // Shasta Scout (free)
Data center is being eyed on part of longtime San Jose tech campus // The Mercury News (gift link)
Spencer Pratt spent big on luxury hotels and security, campaign reports show // Los Angeles Times (paywall)
Forest Service kidnapping dredges up legacy of violence toward federal land employees // The Sacramento Bee (gift link)
