Facebook is a platform with multiple opportunities for users but over the past year, it has always been in controversies regarding privacy violations.
In 2017, Facebook announced a headband that would allow users to type 100 words per minute with just by thinking about it.
Now 2 years later, they released that Facebook has been financing university research on Human volunteers. In a scientific paper from the University of California, it was published that multiple researchers have been working on ways to develop speech decoders to enable users who are trying to explain something by assessing their brain signals.
According to the report published in Nature Communication, multiple researchers used sheets of electrodes and placed them directly on the brains of the volunteers.
With this, scientists were able to listen to the thoughts in real-time as the volunteers heard questions or spoke answers. The volunteers for brain experiments were usually epilepsy patients who were undergoing brain surgery.
Facebook is also funding other systems to listen to the brain for the outside of the skull just with the help of fiber optics or analyzing changes in the blood flow.
It is very likely expected that Facebook will launch a prototype by the end of this year although we are still waiting for some details about the workings of the services of the product.
Can these companies be trusted with access to our brains? Recently, Facebook faced a fine of $5 billion for violating the privacy of its users. So, how can users trust Facebook with this gadget? Although Facebook promises that there will be no data breach but still if we allow this product it means we are allowing Facebook employees to access our brains whenever they want and I don’t think anyone is ready for that.
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In 2017, Facebook announced a headband that would allow users to type 100 words per minute with just by thinking about it.
Now 2 years later, they released that Facebook has been financing university research on Human volunteers. In a scientific paper from the University of California, it was published that multiple researchers have been working on ways to develop speech decoders to enable users who are trying to explain something by assessing their brain signals.
According to the report published in Nature Communication, multiple researchers used sheets of electrodes and placed them directly on the brains of the volunteers.
With this, scientists were able to listen to the thoughts in real-time as the volunteers heard questions or spoke answers. The volunteers for brain experiments were usually epilepsy patients who were undergoing brain surgery.
Response from Facebook about the experiments
According to Facebook, the research is still under process and it is funding UCSF researchers to create a way to communicate persons with speech impairment. The core purpose of Facebook is to create a product that can give users the ability to control music in virtual reality just with their thoughts.Facebook is also funding other systems to listen to the brain for the outside of the skull just with the help of fiber optics or analyzing changes in the blood flow.
It is very likely expected that Facebook will launch a prototype by the end of this year although we are still waiting for some details about the workings of the services of the product.
Why is no one pointing out the consequences?
There is a huge variety of tech companies working on launching products to help read the minds of the people. However, the major issue still goes unnoticed.Can these companies be trusted with access to our brains? Recently, Facebook faced a fine of $5 billion for violating the privacy of its users. So, how can users trust Facebook with this gadget? Although Facebook promises that there will be no data breach but still if we allow this product it means we are allowing Facebook employees to access our brains whenever they want and I don’t think anyone is ready for that.
Conclusion:
Although a brain-reading device can help make our lives a whole lot easier but with these kinds of products we will be giving companies access to a very crucial part of our privacy and the consequences of any breach are unclear. So are you willing to allow companies to access a part of your brain whenever they want to?
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