--- title: More autonomy, fewer NDAs: Volunteers have new requests... description: Brain implant trial participants are pushing researchers to adopt new ethics guidelines covering autonomy, compensation, and data privacy. Ian Burkhart, who... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/more-autonomy-fewer-ndas-volunteers-have-new-requests-for-brain-implant-trials-wrq36cdt8 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: More autonomy, fewer NDAs: Volunteers have new requests for brain implant trials | daily.dev og:description: Brain implant trial participants are pushing researchers to adopt new ethics guidelines covering autonomy, compensation, and data privacy. Ian Burkhart, who... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/more-autonomy-fewer-ndas-volunteers-have-new-requests-for-brain-implant-trials-wrq36cdt8 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/wrq36CDt8.png og:image:alt: More autonomy, fewer NDAs: Volunteers have new requests for brain implant trials og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # More autonomy, fewer NDAs: Volunteers have new requests for brain implant trials **[MIT Technology Review](https://daily.dev/sources/technologyreview)** · 7 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Brain implant trial participants are pushing researchers to adopt new ethics guidelines covering autonomy, compensation, and data privacy. Ian Burkhart, who had a 96-electrode brain implant for seven and a half years starting in 2014, cofounded the BCI Pioneers Coalition in 2022 to gather participant experiences. The group's guidelines, published this week, span 13 categories, including guidance that participants should be able to access their own brain data and not be prevented from sharing it with their own doctors because of NDAs, suggesting participants be listed as coauthors, and committing to maintain implants for a 'reasonable period' after a trial ends. The article reports a case where an Australian woman's implant was removed against her will after its maker went bust. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What new ethical guidelines exist for brain-computer interface clinical trials? The BCI Pioneers Coalition, cofounded by implant recipient Ian Burkhart, published guidelines spanning 13 categories covering participant compensation, authorship credit, brain data privacy, and post-trial device maintenance. The guidelines call for banning NDAs that block participants from sharing their own brain data with doctors and for researchers to maintain implants for a 'reasonable period' after trials end. _developers building neurotech or health-data products can track emerging BCI ethics standards on daily.dev._ ### What happened when a BCI device was removed against a participant's will? Rita Leggett, an Australian woman who had a brain implant for epilepsy, had the device removed against her will after the company that made it went bankrupt two years into use. She said she felt she had 'become one' with the implant, and ethicists have described the forced removal as a potential breach of human rights. _teams designing hardware with long-term patient dependency can follow these accountability debates on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Brain-computer interface trials are taking off](https://daily.dev/posts/brain-computer-interface-trials-are-taking-off-tkf77elxq) · MIT Technology Review · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [Quantum Computers Hunt Rare-Earth-Free Magnets](https://daily.dev/posts/quantum-computers-hunt-rare-earth-free-magnets-2mjudutbf) · IEEE Spectrum · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [China approves first commercial brain implant, beats Neuralink](https://daily.dev/posts/china-approves-first-commercial-brain-implant-beats-neuralink-5rfpg8yxp) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Curiosity Rover Finds New Organic Molecules On Mars](https://daily.dev/posts/curiosity-rover-finds-new-organic-molecules-on-mars-t3yzpscbl) · IEEE Spectrum · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [AI, Mind Reading and Microchip Brain Implants](https://daily.dev/posts/ai-mind-reading-and-microchip-brain-implants-nfjiheqyy) · Security Boulevard · 1 upvotes · 1 comments --- Tags: [#data-privacy](https://daily.dev/tags/data-privacy), [#healthcare](https://daily.dev/tags/healthcare), [#brain-computer-interface](https://daily.dev/tags/brain-computer-interface) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/more-autonomy-fewer-ndas-volunteers-have-new-requests-for-brain-implant-trials-wrq36cdt8) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"More autonomy, fewer NDAs: Volunteers have new requests for brain implant trials","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/more-autonomy-fewer-ndas-volunteers-have-new-requests-for-brain-implant-trials-wrq36cdt8","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/more-autonomy-fewer-ndas-volunteers-have-new-requests-for-brain-implant-trials-wrq36cdt8"},"datePublished":"2026-11-13T10:07:31.619Z","dateModified":"2026-11-13T10:08:54.806Z","description":"Brain implant trial participants are pushing researchers to adopt new ethics guidelines covering autonomy, compensation, and data privacy. 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