Technology meets the body at four levels: carried, worn, implanted and reading the nervous system. The further down you go, the less “you agreed to the terms” means.
Carried, worn, implanted, neural — ordered by how much refusing would cost you.
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| Level | What refusing costs | What consent is worth |
|---|---|---|
| Carried | A little convenience | A real choice |
| Worn | Some health information | Still a choice |
| Implanted | Your health | Formal, not real |
| Neural | The function it restores | Almost nothing |
Consent is not a yes or a no: It is a question about what the alternative was. Somebody who agrees to terms because the alternative is their heart stopping has not made the same kind of decision as somebody choosing a music service.
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Real-world examples you can name
Consumer wearables detecting atrial fibrillation — Apple Heart Study published 2019
A smartwatch notifies the wearer of an irregular pulse. A large study found most people notified did have an irregular rhythm on follow-up, but only a small fraction of wearers were ever notified — so it screens, it does not diagnose.
Who it affected: Wearers who found a condition early, and health systems handling the consultations that false alarms generate.
Chile's neurorights amendment — constitutional amendment October 2021
The first country to write protection of brain activity and mental integrity into its constitution, ahead of the technology that would threaten them, prompted by consumer devices that read neural signals.
Who it affected: Chileans, and legislators elsewhere watching whether pre-emptive rights work.
Aadhaar, India's biometric ID system — launched 2009; Supreme Court ruling September 2018
A national identity number linked to fingerprints and iris scans, used to authenticate access to services. The Supreme Court upheld the scheme for welfare and tax purposes but struck down its use by private companies, and reporting has linked authentication failures to people being denied rations.
Who it affected: Over a billion enrolled residents, and in particular those whose fingerprints scan poorly — manual labourers and older people.
What makes body data different
- It cannot be changed. You can get a new password and not a new fingerprint or heart rhythm.
- It reveals more than it appears to. Movement and sleep patterns indicate illness, pregnancy and mood.
- It is collected continuously, so there is no moment at which a person decides to share something.
- Neural signals were never behaviour. They are not something a person chose to express, which is why Chile's neurorights amendment (Chile, constitutional amendment October 2021) treated them as a separate category.
How this is tested — this topic gives you the strongest available argument about the limits of consent. It comes up two ways:
Paper 1 — structured question
- Part c: evaluate a wearable or implanted device
- Part b: explain why body data is unlike other data
Paper 2 — source-based question
- Q2: explain a concern raised in a source about health data
- Q4: synthesise sources on medical devices
The trap: “users agreed to it”: Say what refusing would have cost. Consent given when the alternative is illness is not the same kind of consent.
Explain one reason why data from the body is more sensitive than other personal data.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
Discuss the claim that people can meaningfully consent to health data collection.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.