FC7PO1Nl MSc Project
Brain Computer Interface Social Acceptance
and
use of it as Forensic Tool
in Nepal.
2021 Spring
Student Name: Shrijendra Shakya
London Met ID: 20049502
College ID: NP01MS7S210024
Assignment Due Date:20th Nov 2022
Assignment Submission Date: 20th Nov 2022
Word Count (Where Required):894
I confirm that I understand my coursework needs to be submitted online via Google Classroom under the
relevant module page before the deadline in order for my assignment to be accepted and marked. I am fully
aware that late submissions will be treated as non-submission and a mark of zero will be awarded.
Nature of the Problem
There has been an increasing number of Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) being developed in
medical and nonmedical fields. The BCIs are being used in marketing, gaming and
entertainment industries. They carry a great potential to improve and enhance the quality of
human lives. Many companies are also trying to develop a BCI brain implant that is capable to
control external devices like computer, mobile, robotic arm. These BCI applications are,
however, not without risk. The established engineering practices set guarantees on
performance, reliability and physical safety of BCIs.
But there are challenges relating to its social acceptability in Nepal – standardization
(guarantees or standards are currently in place regarding user privacy and security), usability
and legal issues. Brain computer interfaces (BCI) enabled devices can be exposed to the hackers
and someone can hack those BCI enabled devices and do malfunctioning causing the damaging
consequences. We don’t have any policy and adequate laws to protect user’s privacy and
protection.
Additionally, there are many unsolved sophisticated crimes in Nepal. We can use the BCI
technology devices as a tool in forensic investigation. By searching the memories in the
suspects’ brains for any crime-relevant information, a subject can be determined to be innocent
or guilty in case the classic evidences are not always available in all crime scenes like
fingerprint, DNA, digital evidence. We don’t yet have any policy and law for admissibility of
such evidence obtained from BCI enabled devices and acceptance of it as a forensic tool.
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Aims and Objectives
The aims and objectives of the chosen thesis topics are as under:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
To learn about BCI and various developments on this sector?
To present the report of the status of BCI Literacy in Nepal?
To present the Emerging Threats to Security and Privacy in Brain Computer Interface?
To present the applications of BCI are most relevant for criminal investigation purpose?
To present the feasibility of applying BCIs during criminal investigation in Nepal?
To present the simulation prototype of guilty knowledge test that uses the event related
potential (ERP) response?
7. To present some of the legal challenges confronting the effective use of BCI including
freedom of privacy, freedom of thought and liability issues and admissibility of BCI
produced evidence in Supreme Court of Nepal.
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Rationale
BCI enabled devices is the future. BCI technology holds the potential to change fundamentally
the relationship between the individual’s internal and subconscious self and the outside world
and it implies unique and unprecedented threats (Council of Europe, Doc. 15147 24 September
2020). The CIA triangle to guide information security policies will also kick in for security of
Neural devices “Neurosecurity” (Bioethica Forum / 2015 / Volume 8 / No. 2). The technology
will also be slowly adopted in Nepal.
Technology is advancing faster than the law. BCIs allow users to control devices without
moving their bodies. The users imagine certain things, and the BCIs read the neural activity
and operate the output device accordingly. Users who affect the world using BCIs do not
perform any conduct, so when they commit crimes using BCIs, how we will prove them guilty?
The traditional law doesn’t incorporate such crimes. Neurotechnology and BCIs may have
particular potential in the field of criminal and judicial proceedings and we need to incorporate
in our Nepal Law as current law becomes inadequate.
Additionally, neurobiological research done in forensic technology has found Event related
potential can provide important information about the human memory content. One can use
ERP signals to extract crime related information’s from the suspect. The ERP can be used as
a
forensic
tool
to
solve
a
sophisticated
crime.(IEEE
Xplore
DOI
:10.1109/ISMA.2008.4648820)
This highlights the importance of using BCI as a forensic tool. This, looking ahead for the
future prospective inspired me to go ahead with this thesis.
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Methodology:
Relevant literatures relating to the subject matter will be reviewed. The literatures will be
sought in academic research databases namely Science Direct, IEEE Xplore and ResearchGate.
Furthermore, the Google search engine will be used to search for documents and Webpages
that contained relevant references for the study and research regarding BCI.
The primary data will be collected by survey regarding status of BCI literacy in Nepal devising
questionaries, selecting focus groups.
There will be simulation done between a group of people for a crime that happened and the
simulated suspect takes a guilty knowledge test (GKT) based on Farwell & Dunchin (Donchin,
1991) GKT that uses the event related potential (ERP) response, brain response to a specific
stimulus, as an indication if a suspect is guilty or innocent.
The EEG signal at the subject’s scalp is Simulated & recorded. Signal analysis is applied to the
recorded electric signal in order to determine if the crime related information is of significant
to the suspect or not. If the information is proven to be significant, the suspect is classified as
guilty
This thesis will adopt the paradigm that was developed by Farwell and Dunchin as previously
described and will consists of the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Subjects (the participants)
Procedure (GKT)
The Testing Environment (Simulated)
Data Collection (Simulated EEG Recording)
The simulated signals will be processed and will undergo extraction and classification and run
through various algorithms.
The National Penal (Code) Act, 2017 will also be studied on in regards to BCI related crimes
with discussion with lawyers.
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Project Plan
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