Among the most important aspects of brain-computer interfacing are ethical issues – issues pertaining to the medical use of BCIs, the use of BCIs for human augmentation and other applications, and the potential for their misuse. Some of these issues fall under the rubric of neuroethics, but other issues are specific to technological aspects of BCIs.

BCI conferences and workshops sometimes include sessions on ethics, and there have been several articles discussing ethical aspects of BCIs and neural interfaces (e.g., Clausen, 2009; Haselager et al., 2009; Tamburrini, 2009; Salvini et al., 2008; Warwick, 2003). However, there are currently no official regulations or guidelines on BCI use, aside from conventional laws regarding medical and legal ethics. As with other technologies in the past, one can expect that as BCIs become more prevalent in society, laws and ethics pertaining to BCI use will likely be codified by medical and governmental regulatory agencies. In the meantime, this chapter surveys the variety of ethical issues and dilemmas surrounding BCI research and BCI use.