Support for H.4746 — The Massachusetts Consumer Data Privacy Act, with Emphasis on Neural Data Protections

Massachusetts House Bill 4746, the Consumer Data Privacy Act, is currently before the House Committee on Ways and Means. The bill incorporates the provisions of the Neural Data Privacy Protection Act and, if passed, would make Massachusetts the first state to enact a comprehensive consumer privacy law that meaningfully protects neural data, a category that current federal and state frameworks largely fail to reach.

We've drafted a sign-on letter (attached) from scholars, clinicians, and researchers working at the intersection of neuroscience, neuroethics, law, and human rights. The letter supports the bill's strongest provisions, including the statutory definition of neural data, its classification as sensitive personal information, data minimization standards, and the prohibition on processing for targeted advertising. It also urges one substantive strengthening: the private right of action as currently drafted is tied to Chapter 93A's injury requirement, which we argue is unworkable for data privacy violations and acutely so for neural data, where harms may be deeply consequential yet nearly impossible to prove as concrete injury. We propose either a deemed-injury clause or a standalone private right of action decoupled from 93A. Finally, the letter situates the bill within the broader international neurorights conversation, including the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of Neurotechnology and the emerging state-level patchwork in Colorado, Montana, Minnesota, and elsewhere.

To sign, please message us at contact us tab on this website or by emailing contact@neuroethicsnow.org with the name, degrees, title, and institutional affiliation you'd like listed. Affiliations are included for identification purposes only. No institutional endorsement is implied or required, and no sign-off from your institution is needed.

If any language gives you pause, please tell us. We'd much rather adjust than lose your voice. And if this isn't the right fit for you for any reason, a brief reply lets us update our records, and we hope to stay in touch on future work.

Thank you for considering this. The frameworks the Commonwealth establishes in the coming months will shape how cognitive liberty is governed well beyond Massachusetts, and a credentialed academic and clinical voice on the record genuinely matters.

With Gratitude,

The Neuroethics Now Executive Team
contact@neuroethicsnow.org | www.neuroethicsnow.org