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Nita A. Farahany

Robinson O. Everett Distinguished Professor of Law
School of Law
Duke Law School Room 3024, Box 90362, Durham, NC 27708-0362
Duke Law School 210 Science Dr, Box 90362, Durham, NC 27708

Outreach & Engaged Scholarship


Data+ Project Leader - Data+ · 2023 Projects & Field Work
Bass Connections Team Leader - Biometrics and Immigration Policy · 2020 Projects & Field Work Bass Connections Open
Bass Connections Team Leader - Mobile EEG Devices: Group Interactions, Privacy and the Brain · 2020 - 2021 Projects & Field Work Brain & Society
Data+ Project Leader - Data+ · 2019 Projects & Field Work Information, Society & Culture
Bass Connections Team Leader - Consumer EEG Devices: Attention, Emotion, Privacy and the Brain · 2019 - 2020 Projects & Field Work flag New York Brain & Society
Data+ Project Leader - Data+ · 2023 Projects & Field Work
Bass Connections Team Leader - Biometrics and Immigration Policy · 2020 Projects & Field Work Bass Connections Open
Bass Connections Team Leader - Mobile EEG Devices: Group Interactions, Privacy and the Brain · 2020 - 2021 Projects & Field Work Brain & Society
Data+ Project Leader - Data+ · 2019 Projects & Field Work Information, Society & Culture
Bass Connections Team Leader - Consumer EEG Devices: Attention, Emotion, Privacy and the Brain · 2019 - 2020 Projects & Field Work flag New York Brain & Society
Bass Connections Faculty Team Leader - Consumer EEG, Mental and Emotional States, Privacy and the Brain · 2018 - 2019 Projects & Field Work

Primary Theme: Brain & Society

What if you could control the world around you with your thoughts and a simple, portable device? Companies like Emotiv, Neurosky and Interaxon are just some of the companies that manufacture portable consumer-based headsets that claim to do just that. While this isn’t quite mind control, we are getting closer to that future possibility. These headsets sense the electrical activity inside a person’s brain using a technique known as electroencephalography, or EEG. These electrodes can measure the electrical signals produced by the brain¡s neurons through the scalp. EEG can be used to determine an individual’s level of attention, emotional state and even processing of complex questions. While EEG has been used as a diagnostic tool for more than half a century, consumer-based devices that are simple, portable and easy for individual use are just now on the market. These consumer-based EEG devices, which are being used by the military and sports teams to detect fatigue, are marketed and sold to everyday consumers for tracking and improving their own brain activity through neurofeedback. This accessibility makes the process of running EEG experiments more efficient, while also allowing for the expansion of EEG research to non-traditional settings. However, these devices raise a unique concern about collecting and sharing data practices because of their unprecedented ability to gather real-time brain activity in everyday situations (e.g., education, employment, fitness or gaming). This collection of neural activity in the brain—and inferences about what that brain activity means with respect to basic internal emotional and physical states is possible.

Bass Connections Faculty Team Member - Governance and Adaptive Regulation of Transformational Technologies in Transportation · August 2017 - May 2018 Projects & Field Work flag United States of America
Bass Connections Faculty Team Member - Privacy, Consumer EEG Devices and the Brain · August 2017 - May 2018 Projects & Field Work flag United States of America
DukeEngage Program Leader - Contributing to national science policy · June 2017 Service Learning , Washington, DC flag United States of America