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Tade Matthias Spranger Editor

International Neurolaw A Comparative Analysis

Editor Associate Professor Tade Matthias Spranger BMBF Research Group ELSI at the Institute of Science and Ethics University of Bonn Bonner Talweg 57 53113 Bonn Germany [email protected]

ISBN 978-3-642-21540-7 e-ISBN 978-3-642-21541-4 DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-21541-4 Springer Heidelberg Dordrecht London New York Library of Congress Control Number: 2011939219 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2012 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilm or in any other way, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9, 1965, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Violations are liable to prosecution under the German Copyright Law. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)

Preface

While the past few years have repeatedly been entitled as the “era of biotechnology”, most recently one has to get the impression that at least the same degree of attention is being paid to the latest developments in the field of neurosciences. As in the fields of biotechnology and nanotechnology, neuroscientific research also opens a barely manageable range of possible applications, some of which are still related to a purely experimental setting, while others are already in practical use. The possible applications cover aspects as diverse as the development of mind reading machines, lie detection methods, or brain–computer interface applications for the improvement of disabled person’s daily life. It is by now nearly impossible to oversee the number of research projects dealing with the functionality of the brain – for instance concerning the organizational structure of the brain – or projects dealing with the topic neuro-economics or neuromarketing. Massive efforts have also been taken in the field of prediction; for instance, some scientists consider it possible to predict a person’s decision before he has ever told it. Hence, a huge practical interest is being paid to neuroscientific developments. This especially holds true for the usage of neuroscientific methods in court trials. In the USA, companies such as Cephos and NO Lie MRI canvass the usage of image-guided procedures – especially the functional magnetic resonance tomography – in different legal areas. Also other countries show a strong development of comparable methods: In India, two states with together about 160 million citiz