Health - Brain-eavesdropping tech can't steal your thoughts

"MIND-READING technology continues to give us hope. It already allows people in a locked-in state to communicate, and has given a paralysed man the ability to produce simple vowel sounds. Now neuroscientists have gone one better, eavesdropping on brain activity and converting it into speech (see "Telepathy machine reconstructs speech from brainwaves").

Great news for people who are trapped inside their own bodies, but what about the rest of us? Is there any danger of misuse?

Fear not. Devices that can read minds with any accuracy must be implanted into the brain. Non-invasive techniques such as EEG are crude and only work in carefully controlled conditions.

Astonishing breakthroughs notwithstanding, there is absolutely no prospect of anyone looking inside your skull without your consent. The final frontier of privacy remains intact.

http://www.newscientist.com/