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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 12th, 2023

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  • Of course many comments in this threas are exaggerated; there won’t be played any ads into your brain.

    But there are some implications for the usage of Neuralink that are worth thinking about it - especially when it comes to privacy:

    Given that it “just” runs with firmware, so that the implant can function in a way most stable and reliably, and also given that there will be no subscription model involved into all of that, will the user (patient) be able to control the functionality of the implant (e.g. controlling the intensity of the eletric signal sent out from the implant to counteract the intensity of a tremor)?

    And how will that happen? One thing I could think of is to control the implant with a smartphone app. How good will that smartphone app be? Will it be programmed sloppily like these apps we know from Internet-Of-Things-Apps and have a ton of bugs? Are those (medicinal!) apps secure in terms of privacy? What is with the product support? Will the implant be discontinued after a few years (and also the app)? What if your smartphone fails (no power or hardware failure, or after an update it doesn’t work)?

    A friend of mine has an app to monitor her blood sugar. She is not qute satified with the app. Luckily the provider of those diabetes sensors provided a separate device, so that the app is just an addition for measuring when you are travelling, for example. But in their last iteration they tried to omit the separate device, probably in order to save costs. My friend had to explicitly ask for it.

    With that in mind I’m not keen on having control on such medicinal devices with a smartphone only. If the smartphone fails, there would be no backup. Will such similar things be the case regarding Neuralink?


  • I’m sure these implants will give much needed ease to patients who suffer frem tremors like parkinson and other neurological diseases. But the things I’m mostly concerned about are:

    • Will health insurance pay for the implant in a one-time-payment? Will it be a subscription model? What happens when you can’t pay your subscription? Will it be shut off?
    • Will the implant be operated through firmware (like a pacemaker) or software, which reqires frequent updates? If so, will there be - like computer software - “new features” implemented (“With version 2.0 you will be able to share your Neuralink experience with other Neuralink users. Your data may not be leaked, pinky promise.”
    • What if a certain mentally unstable CEO throws a tantrum that will affect the performance of the Neuralink implant negatively? Will there be any legal protection from such thing?


  • Things I do what give me a percieved sense of privacy/ security:

    • use Firefox with Add-ons (Ublock origin, Idontcareaboutcookies, Istilldontcareaobutcookies, Consent Blocker)
    • browser set up to block third party cookies and to delete any cookies after closing
    • not allowing to store any credentials in the browser
    • using different passwords for different services (not one password for all)
    • using Two-Factor-Authentification on services which are connected with banking account
    • not using freemail providers for email
    • using a temporary email where possible if registration is required
    • encrypted hard drive and encrypted backups
    • do not use cloud storage (I rely on old school portable hard drives and thumb drives)
    • using an additional firewall to stop certain not-quite-legally-obtained programs from phoning home (these programs can’t be replaced through FOSS at the moment, or are too ridiculously overpriced to buy them right now)
    • restrict/ forbid operating system to collect anonymous data and to phone home (as if that helps…)
    • don’t do online banking with an android 8 device

    The password storage thing sometimes seems to be a hassle. I have stored my passwords in a physical moleskin, written with a pen, like an old person would do. When I have that book not availiable (when travellling), I have to guess my credentials.

    At work I have the browser stored all the credentials. It’s so much faster and easier. But since it’s at my job I don’t have to worry about my own private stuff.