神經技術時代精神隱私的保護層次及路徑

Levels and Paths of Mental Privacy Protection in the Age of Neurotechnology

精神隱私是神經技術時代隱私保護的新維度。本文旨在厘清精神隱私的不同保護層次，構建有針對性的法律保護路徑。精神隱私的保護層次涉及數據層、信息層及內容層。在數據層，其所涉大腦數據是人腦結構、活動和功能相關的定量數據，其相關精神隱私風險在於大數據分析的不確定邏輯和數據安全事件可能引發的隱私問題。在信息層，精神隱私保護的對象是與個人生理、健康相關的大腦信息及精神狀態信息，其相關精神隱私風險包括生物識別、個人特徵預測和精神狀態解碼等。在內容層，精神隱私的保護對象包括命題性的精神內容和經驗性的精神內容，與其相關的“讀心”風險目前雖不具有技術現實性，但真實地挑戰著人們的隱私感受。就保護路徑而言，內容層精神隱私應納入傳統隱私權的保護範疇，信息層精神隱私可適用敏感個人信息的處理規則，數據層精神隱私存在雙重保護路徑。

Mental privacy is a new dimension of privacy protection in the age of neurotechnology. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the different protection levels of mental privacy and to construct targeted legal protection paths. The protection levels of mental privacy involve the data layer, the information layer and the content layer. The data level involves brain data, which is quantitative data related to the structure, activity and function of the human brain, and its related mental privacy risk lies in privacy issues that may be triggered by the uncertain logic of big data analysis and data security incidents. At the information level, the object of mental privacy protection is brain information related to an individual’s physiology and health, as well as information about mental states. Risks to mental privacy at the information level include biometric information, prediction of personal characteristics, and mental state decoding. At the content level, the objects of mental privacy protection include propositional mental content and experiential mental content, which relevant risk of mind-reading is currently not technically realistic but genuinely challenges people’s feelings of privacy. In terms of protection paths, mental privacy at the content level should be protected through the traditional right to privacy. The protection of mental privacy at the information layer can be subject to the rules for handling sensitive personal information. A dual protection path exists for mental privacy at the data level.