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Ethical Aspects of ICT Implants in the Human Body

Ethical Aspects of ICT Implants in the Human Body. Rafael Capurro Distinguished Researcher in Information Ethics, School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA Conference Neuroscience and European and North American Case Law

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Ethical Aspects of ICT Implants in the Human Body

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  1. Ethical Aspects of ICT Implants in the Human Body Rafael Capurro Distinguished Researcher in Information Ethics, School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA Conference Neuroscience and European and North American Case Law Interdepartmental Research Centre ECLSC, University of Pavia, in cooperation with the Court of Milan, Milan, September 17, 2010

  2. Overview • Introduction • EGE Opinion No 20 • Scientific and technical background • Legal Aspects • Ethical Aspects • Prospects Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  3. Introduction • The European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies to the European Commission Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  4. Introduction „The Group is a neutral, independent, pluralist and multidisciplinary body, composed of fifteen experts appointed by the Commission for their expertise and personal qualities.“ Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  5. Introduction „The task of the Group is to examine ethical questions arising from science and new technologies and on this basis to issue Opinions to the European Commission in connection with the preparation and implementation of Community legislation or policies.“ Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  6. Introduction „In order to face the ethical issues that are arising with the rapid advances in science and technology, the Members represent a broader range of professional competences in different disciples such as, inter alia, biology and genetics, medicine, pharmacology, agricultural sciences, ICT, law, ethics, philosophy, and theology.“ Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  7. Introduction „For every full Opinion to be issued by the Group, a roundtable is held before the Opinion is adopted, to which representatives of the Institutions of the European Union, experts of the fields, parties representing different interests, including NGOs, patients and consumer organisations and industrial stakeholders, are invited to participate in the debate.“ Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  8. Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  9. Opinion No 20 • Ethical aspects of ICT implants in the human body (16 March 2005). Opinion produced on the direct initiative of the EGE Rapporteurs: Prof. Stefano Rodotà and Prof. Rafael Capurro http://ec.europa.eu/european_group_ethics/avis/index_en.htm Important Notice: This PP presents pictures, videos and links that are NOT part of the EGE Opinion. Please, do not quote the text of the Opinion from this PP but do it directly from the official text. Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  10. Introduction • „At first sight ICT implants are ethically unproblematic if we think for instance about cardiac pacemakers. However, although ICT implants may be used to repair deficient bodily capabilities they can also be misused, particularly if these devices are accessible via digital networks.“ Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  11. Introduction • „The idea of letting ICT devices get under our skin in order not just to repair but even to enhance human capabilities gives rise to science fiction visions with threat and/or benefit characteristics.“ Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  12. Introduction • „The intimate relation between bodily and psychic functions is basic to our personal identity.“ Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  13. Introduction • „Consequently the objective of this Opinion is primarily to raise awareness and questions concerning the ethical dilemmas created by a range of implants in this rapidly expanding field.“ Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  14. Scientific and Technical Background • Current Applications and Research • Applications: ICT Implants on the market • Active medical devices: Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  15. Scientific and Technical Background • Cardiovascular pacers for patients with conduction disorders or heart failure • Cochlear and brainstem implantsfor patients with hearing disorders • Implantable programmable drug delivery pumps for patients with Multiple Sclerosis or Diabetes • Implantable Neurostimulation Devices • Spinal cord stimulation for chronic pain management • Sacral nerve stimulation for control of urinary incontinence • Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) for seizure control in epilepsy and mood control in severe depression cases • Deap brain stimulation (DBS) for patients with Parkinson’s disease, for essential tremor • Artificial chip-controlled leg Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  16. Scientific and Technical Background • Identification and location devices: • Read-Only: for example allowing to identify Alzheimer‘s patients or children • Read-Write: carrying a set of information (such as a person‘s medical history) • Devices with tracking capabilities: a device that can emit a radio signal which could be tracked (RFID, VeriChip) Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  17. Scientific and Technical Background Research on ICT Implants: Medical Devices • Biosensors • Artificial Hippocampus • Cortical implant for the blind • Ocular implant or artificial retina • Brain-computer interfaces (BCI) Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  18. Scientific and Technical Background Surveillance or tracking devices • Wearable ICT • Subdermal GPS Enhancement or commodity devices • Prosthetic cortical implant (intelligence or sensory „amplifiers“) • Artificial vision • Audio tooth implant • Artificial hippocampus (to enhance memory) Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  19. Scientific and Technical Background • Other potential uses • Microsoft patent Number 6,754,472 June 22, 2004 concerns the human body as a medium for transmission of data (or energy) to „other devices“ like PDAs, cellular phones, medical devices, RFID, making possible to localize persons. The patent does not describe any specific device. Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  20. Scientific and Technical Background • „Smart guns“: weapons that can be fired only if operated by their owner with a RFID-chip implanted in his or her hand. Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  21. Categorisation of ICT Implants • Implantable devices can be categorised as: • medical • non-medical • Both as: • passive • active • Reversible or non reversible • Stand-alone or online • ICT implants and tags Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  22. Future personal tracking devices • Integration and miniaturization of three technologies: www.digitalangel.com • Biosensor: read a person‘s vital signs by touching the skin (implanted into a wristwatch) • Pager device: takes the data from the biosensor by using a cellular packet module • Position location technology: using radio signal to stay in contact with a person‘s pager device -> this information is sent through cellular data packets to a data centre (Digital Angel™) -> The first Digital Angel was launched in November 2001 -> Medical emergency purposes -> Identification/Location purposes Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  23. Legal Background • General Principles: • Universal Declaration of Human Rights • EU Charter of Fundamental Rights of 2000 • Convention on Human Rigts and Biomedicine of the Council of Europe • EU Directives • European Constitution • National Constitutions Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  24. Legal Background • Human Dignity: providing that the human body and its parts shall not give rise to financial gain • Human Inviolability • Privacy and Data Protection • The Precautionary Principle • Data Minimisation, Purpose Specification, Proportionality Principle and Relevance • Autonomy and Limits of ICT Implants Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  25. Legal Background • „ICT implants may: • allow individuals to be located on a permanent and/or occasional basis; • Allow the information contained in electronic devices to be changed remotely without the date subject‘s knowledge.“ Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  26. Legal Background • „These risks are bound to increase with the adoption of unified technical standards, which may allow data to be read and modified also by entities other than the data subject and the bodies/organizations lawfully managing the relevant plant or connection.“ Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  27. Legal Background • „Both circumstances are clearly in conflict with data protection rules concerning collection and processing of the information.“ Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  28. Legal Background • „For the legal background, it should be noted that: • the existence of a recognised serious but uncertain risk, currently applying ot the simplest types of ICT implant in the human body (…) • The purpose specification principle mandates at least a distinction between medical and non-medical applications (…) Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  29. Legal Background • „the data minimisation principle rules out the lawfulness of ICT implants that are only aimed at identifying patients, if they can be replaced by less invasive andequally secure tools; • the proportionality principle rules out the lawfulness of implants such as those that are used, for instance, exclusively to facilitate entrance to public premises; Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  30. Legal Background • „the principle of integrity and inviolability of the body rules out that the data subject‘s consent is sufficient to allow all kinds of implant to be deployed; and • the dignity principle prohibits transformation of the body into an objet that can be manipulated and controlled remotely – into a mere source of information.“ Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  31. Ethical Background • „Contemporary society is confronted with changes that have to do with the anthropological essence of individuals.“ Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  32. Ethical Background • „There is a stepwise shift in progress – after being observed, via video surveillance and biometrics, individuals are being modified via various electronic devices, under skin chips and smart tags, to such an extent that they are increasingly turned into networked individuals.“ Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  33. Ethical Background • „Thus we might be continuously connected and could be configured differently so that from time to time we would transmit and receive signals allowing movements, habits and contacts to be traced and defined. This would be bound to modify the meaning and contents of an individual‘s autonomy and to affect their dignity.“ Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  34. First human ‚infected with a computer virus‘ • BBC News 26 May 2010: „First human ‚infected with a computer virus‘“ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10158517 • M.N. Gasson: „Could you become infected with a Computer Virus?“ (2010) http://www.personal.rdg.ac.uk/~sis04mng/research/ Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  35. Ethical Background • Fundamental ethical principles: • Human Dignity • Non-instrumentalisation • Privacy • Non-discrimination • Informed Consent • Equity • The precautionary principle Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  36. Ethical Background • Value conflicts • „There could be conflict between the personal freedom to use one‘s economic resources to get an implant that will enhance one‘s physical capabilities and what society at large considers desirable or ethically acceptable.“ Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  37. Ethical Background • „Another value conflict concerns the potential conflict between limiting freedom of people dangerous to others by surveillance and promoting the safety of others.“ Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  38. Ethical Background • „Freedom of researchers may conflict with the obligation to safeguard the health of research subjects.“ Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  39. Ethical Background • „Concern for economic competitiveness and other economic values (economic growth) may come into conflict with respect for human dignity.“ Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  40. Ethical Background • „Some Important Knowledge Gaps Regarding ICT Implants in the Human Body: Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  41. Ethical Background • „Human Dignity, Integrity and Autonomy: • How far can such implants be a threat to human autonomy particularly when they are implanted in our brains? • How far can they have irreversible impacts in the human body and in the human psyche? • How will they influence human memory? • Does a human being cease to be such a „being“ in cases where some parts of his or her body – particularly the brain – are substituted and/or supplemented by ICT implants?“ Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  42. Ethical Background • „Privacy and Surveillance: • How far con ICT implants become a threat to privacy? • How far can ICT implants give an individual, or a group, specific capabilities that could become a threat to society?“ Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  43. Ethical Background • „Enhancement and Self Awareness • What does perfectibility of human beings mean? • How far should the use of such implants to enhance human capabilities be allowed?“ Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  44. Ethical Background • „Social Aspects • How do we relate to persons with ICT implants that are connected online? • How far should ICT implants remain invisible to an external observer? • How far can they be used to track human beings and in which cases should this be legally allowed?“ Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  45. Ethical Background • „ICT Implants for which special caution is necessary: • ICT implants that cannot be removed easily • ICT implants that influence, determine of change psychic functions • ICT implants that could be misused for social surveillance and manipulation • Military applications“ Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  46. Opinion • Scope: „This Opinion focuses on the question of ICT implants in the human body. It does not deal with the whole field of ICT devices or with „wearable“ computing in general, although there may be cases in which such devices could be considered as quasi implants.“ Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  47. Opinion • „We shall not lay hand upon thee“. This was the promise made in the Magna Carta – to respect the body in its entirety: Habeas Corpus.“ • „In this new world, data protection fulfils the task of ensuring the „habeas data“ required by the changed circumstances“. Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  48. Opinion • „At the same time, this is a permanently unfinished body. It can be manipulated to restore functions that either were lost or were never known (…) again, for the sake of the person‘s welfare and/or social competitiveness, as in the case of enhanced sports skills or intelligence prostheses.“ Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  49. Opinion • „ICT Implants for health purposes: • The objective is important • The implant is necessary to achieve this objective, and • There is no other less invasive and more cost-effective method of achieving this objective.“ Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

  50. Opinion • „The individual and the network: • To the extent that an individual via an ICT implant has become part of an ICT network, the operation of the whole network – not just the ICT implant – needs to be considered.“ Rafael Capurro, ECLSC 10

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