IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2015 - 46

A BCI's signal processing component typically consists of a feature extractor and decoding algorithm. The
feature extractor processes recorded signals and extracts
signal features, assumed to reflect specific aspects of
a user's neural signal. Decoding algorithms take the
abstracted features and translate them into applicationspecific commands. Depending on the application, many
different decoding algorithms exist (see e.g., [29]).

Emerging Issues Related to the Use of BCIs
With an increased interest in neural engineering applications, the need to address emerging ethical questions
arising from the use of neural devices has also been recognized in recent years [21], [22], [26]-[28], [39]. Denning
et al. [21] summarized the potential security problem as
follows: "the use of standard engineering practices, medical trials, and neuroethical evaluations during the design
process can create systems that are safe and that follow
ethical guidelines; unfortunately, none of these disciplines
currently ensure that neural devices are robust against
adversarial entities trying to exploit these devices to
alter, block, or eavesdrop on neural signals." The authors
identified security threats that can be mounted against
implanted neural devices, and introduced the term neurosecurity as "the protection of the confidentiality, integrity,
and availability of neural devices from malicious parties
with the goal of preserving the safety of a person's neural
mechanisms, neural computation, and free will" [21].
Providing real-world examples of such threats, Martinovic
et al. [34] and Frank et al. [23] recently showed that attacks
on non-invasive BCIs are indeed feasible. The authors of
[34] presented the first malicious software designed to
detect a user's private information using an EEG-based BCI,
referred to as brain spyware. They used a commercially
available device to present users with noticeable visual stimuli while recording their EEG signals. The authors analyzed
the recorded signals in order to detect a user's: a) 4-digit
PIN, b) bank information, c) month of birth, d) location of
residence, and e) if a user recognized the presented set of
faces. In [23], the authors used subliminal visual stimuli
(i.e., stimuli too short for conscious perception), to try to
determine if a user recognized the presented person.
In both of these articles, the authors focused on the
P300 Event Related Potential component [31]. However, it
is not hard to imagine brain spyware being developed to
extract not only private information about users' memories, prejudices, and beliefs, but also about their possible
neurophysiological disorders. Currently, there does not
seem to exist a way to resist these attacks. Moreover,
recent results [30] show that attempts at willful deception can themselves be detected from an individual's
neural signals. The authors of [30] also show that noninvasive brain stimulators, emitting imperceptible DC electrical stimuli, can be used to make a user's responses

noticeably slower when attempting to lie. This work clearly
indicates there is a growing need to address potential
privacy and security risks arising from the use of BCIs, in
both medical and non-medical applications.

From Wiener to Science Fiction
to Contemporary Innovations
Norbert Wiener's Influence
Norbert Wiener wrote extensively on the applications of
cybernetics to the human nervous system (e.g., [42]).
Consider his seminal work Cybernetics: Or Control and
Communication in the Animal and the Machine [41]. He
identified cybernetics as a field encompassing both complex biological and artificial systems. This was because he
viewed the human brain as fundamentally an information
processing machine. Thus he proposed a framework for
the re-examination of the very notion of the brain and conscious mind, which could be observed through the lenses
of quantifiable engineering disciplines. Many phenomena
could consequently be explained by the same rules that
govern the fields of control and communication. One prime
example of this was his identification of intention and postural tremor in Parkinson's Disease as feedback problems
[43]. Once identified as such, he and his collaborators
implemented example systems in a simple robot analog,
and were able to replicate the various forms of intentional
and postural tremor by simply manipulating the nature of
the feedback. Wiener correctly identified that if the neurological processes in our brain follow the same rule set as
artificial information processing systems, it would be possible to interface the two synergistically. He had fundamentally given form to the field of brain-computer interfaces long
before the desktop computer had come into existence.

Influence of Science Fiction
The revolutionary ideas of integrating the biological and
artificial through the quantitative engineering disciplines
of control and communication theory became a theme
of science fiction writers. Science fiction has served as a
speculative sandbox to test the implications and potentials of new technology, and their implications for society
and human relationships. This is especially true for BCI
technology, which changes the fundamental capabilities
of the human mind. BCI technology has entered science
fiction. In particular, the cyberpunk genre extensively
examined the possible ramifications of this melding of
man, machine, and neural engineering. With these concepts, authors created new terminology to describe the
technology that would enable this fundamental shift in the
human experience. Various terms have arisen to describe
a new form of the central nervous system that includes
extensive cybernetic augmentation, including the term
exocortex, popularized by author Charles Stross [38].

IEEE TEchnology and SocIETy MagazInE

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september 2015

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