Scientists developing device to 'hack' into brain of Stephen Hawking
Hawking, 70, has been working with scientists at Standford University who are developing a the iBrain - a tool which picks up brain waves and communicates them via a computer.
The scientist, who has motor neurone disease and lost the power of speech nearly 30 years ago, currently uses a computer to communicate but is losing the ability as the condition worsens.
But he has been working with Philip Low, a professor at Stanford and inventor of the iBrain, a brain scanner that measures electrical activity.
"We'd like to find a way to bypass his body, pretty much hack his brain," said Prof Low.
Researchers will unveil their latest results at a conference in Cambridge next month, and may demonstrate the technology on Hawking.
(Read more at the source...)
Like just about anything having to do with wethack and the brain this equal parts excites me, creeps me out, and gets the infosec areas of my brain twitching hard. So far what they have is HIPPA compliant, so that's hopeful. The thing is that HIPPA doesn't neceisarly incapsulate personal privacy much less device/protocol security. Given the pacemaker vulnerabilities that went public back in 2008 one would hope that researchers would be saying the phrase "secure by design" so frequently it'd become a mantra.
