California Enacts Law To Protect Brain Data

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law to protect the privacy of brainwave data on the same weekend he vetoed a controversial bill intended to curb abuses by powerful generative artificial intelligence models (Credit: AFP)

A new California law extends consumer privacy protection to brainwave data gathered by implants or wearable devices.

Governor Gavin Newsom over the weekend signed into law a bill amending the California Consumer Privacy Act, the state's spin on the GDPR in Europe, to classify "neural data" as protected personal information along the lines of precise geolocation, genetics and biometrics.