The Internet of Bodies

Opportunities, Risks, and Governance

by Mary Lee, Benjamin Boudreaux, Ritika Chaturvedi, Sasha Romanosky, Bryce Downing

Related Topics: Cybersecurity, Health Information Privacy

Internet-connected “smart” devices are increasingly available in the marketplace, promising consumers and businesses improved convenience and efficiency. Within this broader Internet of Things (IoT) lies a growing industry of devices that monitor the human body and transmit the data collected via the internet. This development, which some have called the Internet of Bodies (IoB), includes an expanding array of devices that combine software, hardware, and communication capabilities to track personal health data, provide vital medical treatment, or enhance bodily comfort, function, health, or well-being. However, these devices also complicate a field already fraught with legal, regulatory, and ethical risks. The authors of this report examine this emerging collection of human body–centric and internet-connected technologies; explore benefits, security and privacy risks, and ethical implications; survey the nascent regulatory landscape for these devices and the data they collect; and make recommendations to balance IoB risks and rewards.

Key Findings

Governance of IoB devices is managed through a patchwork of state and federal agencies, nonprofit organizations, and consumer advocacy groups

The primary entities responsible for governance of IoB devices are the FDA and the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Although the FDA is making strides in cybersecurity of medical devices, many IoB devices, especially those available for consumer use, do not fall under FDA jurisdiction.
Federal and state officials have begun to address cybersecurity risks associated with IoB that are beyond FDA oversight, but there are few laws that mandate cybersecurity best practices.

As with IoB devices, there is no single entity that provides oversight to IoB data

Protection of medical information is regulated at the federal level, in part, by HIPAA.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) helps ensure data security and consumer privacy through legal actions brought by the Bureau of Consumer Protection.
Data brokers are largely unregulated, but some legal experts are calling for policies to protect consumers.
As the United States has no federal data privacy law, states have introduced a patchwork of laws and regulations that apply to residents’ personal data, some of which includes IoB-related information.
The lack of consistency in IoB laws among states and between the state and federal level potentially enables regulatory gaps and enforcement challenges.

Recommendations

The U.S. Commerce Department can put foreign IoB companies on its “Entity List,” preventing them from doing business with Americans, if those foreign companies are implicated in human rights violations.
As 5G, Wi-Fi 6, and satellite internet standards are rolled out, the federal government should be prepared for issues by funding studies and working with experts to develop security regulations.
It will be important to consider how to incentivize quicker phase-out of the legacy medical devices with poor cybersecurity that are already in wide use.
IoB developers must be more attentive to cybersecurity by integrating cybersecurity and privacy considerations from the beginning of product development.
Device makers should test software for vulnerabilities often and devise methods for users to patch software.
Congress should consider establishing federal data transparency and protection standards for data that are collected from the IoB.
The FTC could play a larger role to ensure that marketing claims about improved well-being or specific health treatment are backed by appropriate evidence.

The Burzynski Breakthrough: The Most Promising Cancer Treatment and the Government’s Campaign to Squelch It

The Burzynski Breakthrough: The Most Promising Cancer Treatment and the Government’s Campaign to Squelch It Paperback – October 28, 2009

by Thomas D. Elias (Author)

This is the definitive book about Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski’s antineoplaston treatment for cancer, which has put thousands of cancers into remission and is at last on the road to full drug approval from the FDA. This marks a major change for the FDA, which formerly called the Burzynski treatment a fraud. After decades of battling FDA officials who unsucessfully placed Dr. Burzynski on criminal trial, the Burzynski treatment is now officially recognized as the most promising way to fight at least two cancers that almost never respond to chemotherapy and radiation. Many of the most hostile FDA officials have now departed, allowing antineoplastons to achieve orphan designation and putting the treatment well on the way to becoming a leading therapy, possibly even the standard one. This book details 30 years of government resistance to history’s most promising cancer treatment, providing a full portrayal of both Dr. Burzynski, detailed coverage of his criminal trial and vindication, and detailed case histories of many patients who had been diagnosed with a wide variety of cancers. More than 12 years after its initial appearance, this updated version of the book is at last available in paperback.

The Psychology of Fraud, Persuasion and Scam Techniques

The Psychology of Fraud, Persuasion and Scam Techniques 1st Edition

by Martina Dove (Author)

The Psychology of Fraud, Persuasion and Scam Techniques provides an in-depth explanation of not only why we fall for scams and how fraudsters use technology and other techniques to manipulate others, but also why fraud prevention advice is not always effective.

Starting with how fraud victimisation is perceived by society and why fraud is underreported, the book explores the different types of fraud and the human and demographic factors that make us vulnerable. It explains how fraud has become increasingly sophisticated and how fraudsters use communication, deception and theories of rationality, cognition and judgmental heuristics, as well as specific persuasion and scam techniques, to encourage compliance. Covering frauds including romance scams and phishing attacks such as advance fee frauds and so-called miracle cures, the book explores ways we can learn to spot scams and persuasive communication, with checklists and advice for reflection and protection.

Featuring a set of practical guidelines to reduce fraud vulnerability, advice on how to effectively report fraud and educative case studies and examples, this easy-to-read, instructive book is essential reading for fraud prevention specialists, fraud victims and academics and students interested in the psychology of fraud.

The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man Paperback – February 9, 2016

by John Perkins (Author)

Featuring 15 explosive new chapters, this new edition of the New York Times bestseller brings the story of Economic Hit Men up-to-date and, chillingly, home to the U.S.―but it also gives us hope and the tools to fight back.

Former economic hit man John Perkins shares new details about the ways he and others cheated countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. Then he reveals how the deadly EHM cancer he helped create has spread far more widely and deeply than ever in the US and everywhere else—to become the dominant system of business, government, and society today. Finally, he gives an insider view of what we each can do to change it.

Economic hit men are the shock troops of what Perkins calls the corporatocracy, a vast network of corporations, banks, colluding governments, and the rich and powerful people tied to them. If the EHMs can’t maintain the corrupt status quo through nonviolent coercion, the jackal assassins swoop in. The heart of this book is a completely new section, over 100 pages long, that exposes the fact that all the EHM and jackal tools—false economics, false promises, threats, bribes, extortion, debt, deception, coups, assassinations, unbridled military power—are used around the world today exponentially more than during the era Perkins exposed over a decade ago.

As dark as the story gets, this reformed EHM also provides hope. Perkins offers specific actions each of us can take to transform what he calls a failing Death Economy into a Life Economy that provides sustainable abundance for all.

The Invisible Rainbow: A History of Electricity and Life

The Invisible Rainbow: A History of Electricity and Life Paperback – Illustrated, March 9, 2020

by Arthur Firstenberg (Author)

5g is being rolled out across the country, despite growing evidence that it is disruptive to our health, our safety, and the environment. The Invisible Rainbow is the groundbreaking story of electricity as it’s never been told before―exposing its very real impact on the biosphere and human health.

100,000 copies sold!

Over the last 220 years, society has evolved a universal belief that electricity is ‘safe’ for humanity and the planet. Scientist and journalist Arthur Firstenberg disrupts this conviction by telling the story of electricity in a way it has never been told before―from an environmental point of view―by detailing the effects that this fundamental societal building block has had on our health and our planet.

In The Invisible Rainbow, Firstenberg traces the history of electricity from the early eighteenth century to the present, making a compelling case that many environmental problems, as well as the major diseases of industrialized civilization―heart disease, diabetes, and cancer―are related to electrical pollution.

“Few individuals today are able to grasp the entirety of a scientific subject and present it in a highly engaging manner . . . Firstenberg has done just that with one of the most pressing but neglected problems of our technological age.”―BRADLEY JOHNSON,MD, Amen Clinic, San Francisco

“[A] masterpiece.”―Celia Farber, investigative journalist

“This seminal book…will transform your understanding …of the environmental and health effects of electricity and radio frequencies”―Paradigm Explorer

The Thermo Diet: The Simple Scientific Way To Eat To Lose Fat Easily, Increase Your Metabolism, and Balance Your Hormones

The Thermo Diet: The Simple Scientific Way To Eat To Lose Fat Easily, Increase Your Metabolism, and Balance Your Hormones Paperback – April 18, 2022

by Christopher Walker (Author)

Everything you’ve ever been told about dieting and nutrition is wrong.

Both men and women alike assume that healthy eating should be a chore, a constant struggle to lose weight, overcome metabolic issues, and balance their hormones. From birth into adulthood, we’re fed a stream of lies about nutrition: from the mass media, the government, & pharmaceutical industry propaganda. You believe these lies, and they keep you struggling on the hamster wheel of fad diets and medications.

But this doesn’t need to be your fate.

Liberate yourself with the Thermo Diet. A lean physique, endless energy, balanced hormones, a healthy sex drive, and deep sleep can all be your “new normal” now. Within the 2 hours it will take you to read this book, you will understand just how simple losing weight, increasing your metabolism, and balancing your hormones truly is!

This step-by-step guide to nutrition teaches you:

Which “health foods” you’re eating right now that you should actually completely AVOID
Why eating more sugar and salt, not less, will quickly improve your health
The most common vitamin and mineral deficiencies that are killing your progress
How you’re being duped by Big Pharma to believe that serotonin is “the happy hormone,” when in fact it keeps you stuck in a vicious cycle of depression
Why eating vegetables is not necessary at all!
Which simple, delicious foods you should be eating every single day to massively improve your health
The #1 toxic oil that you should NEVER eat (hint: it’s being used in nearly every restaurant and packaged food on Earth)
And so much more…

The Thermo Diet by Christopher Walker – the first person to graduate from Duke University’s neuroscience program in just 3 years – cuts through the information overload in the nutrition industry, giving you a deliciously scientific step-by-step plan to achieve all of your health goals with less effort, and more enjoyment than you ever thought possible!

Doublespeak

Doublespeak (Rebel Reads) Paperback – January 12, 2016

by William Lutz (Author)

Doublespeak is the language of non-responsibility, carefully constructed to appear to communicate when it fact it doesn’t. In this lively and eye-opening expose, originally published in 1989, linguist William Lutz identifies the four most common types of doublespeak—euphemism, jargon, gobbledygook or “bureaucratese,” and inflated language—showing how each is used in business, advertising, medicine, government, and the military. In this seminal book, Lutz articulates that the goal of doublespeak is “to distort reality and corrupt thought.”

Deadly Medicines and Organised Crime: How Big Pharma Has Corrupted Healthcare

Deadly Medicines and Organised Crime: How Big Pharma Has Corrupted Healthcare 1st Edition

by Peter Gotzsche (Author)

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS ARE THE THIRD LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH AFTER HEART DISEASE AND CANCER. In his latest ground-breaking book, Peter C Gotzsche exposes the pharmaceutical industries and their charade of fraudulent behaviour, both in research and marketing where the morally repugnant disregard for human lives is the norm. He convincingly draws close comparisons with the tobacco conglomerates, revealing the extraordinary truth behind efforts to confuse and distract the public and their politicians. The book addresses, in evidence-based detail, an extraordinary system failure caused by widespread crime, corruption, bribery and impotent drug regulation in need of radical reforms. “The main reason we take so many drugs is that drug companies don’t sell drugs, they sell lies about drugs. This is what makes drugs so different from anything else in life…Virtually everything we know about drugs is what the companies have chosen to tell us and our doctors…the reason patients trust their medicine is that they extrapolate the trust they have in their doctors into the medicines they prescribe. The patients don’t realise that, although their doctors may know a lot about diseases and human physiology and psychology, they know very, very little about drugs that hasn’t been carefully concocted and dressed up by the drug industry…If you don’t think the system is out of control, please email me and explain why drugs are the third leading cause of death…If such a hugely lethal epidemic had been caused by a new bacterium or a virus, or even one-hundredth of it, we would have done everything we could to get it under control.” FROM THE INTRODUCTION

The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains

The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains Paperback – September 18, 2018

by Robert H. Lustig (Author)

“Explores how industry has manipulated our most deep-seated survival instincts.”—David Perlmutter, MD, Author, #1 New York Times bestseller, Grain Brain and Brain Maker

The New York Times–bestselling author of Fat Chance reveals the corporate scheme to sell pleasure, driving the international epidemic of addiction, depression, and chronic disease.

While researching the toxic and addictive properties of sugar for his New York Times bestseller Fat Chance, Robert Lustig made an alarming discovery—our pursuit of happiness is being subverted by a culture of addiction and depression from which we may never recover.

Dopamine is the “reward” neurotransmitter that tells our brains we want more; yet every substance or behavior that releases dopamine in the extreme leads to addiction. Serotonin is the “contentment” neurotransmitter that tells our brains we don’t need any more; yet its deficiency leads to depression. Ideally, both are in optimal supply. Yet dopamine evolved to overwhelm serotonin—because our ancestors were more likely to survive if they were constantly motivated—with the result that constant desire can chemically destroy our ability to feel happiness, while sending us down the slippery slope to addiction. In the last forty years, government legislation and subsidies have promoted ever-available temptation (sugar, drugs, social media, porn) combined with constant stress (work, home, money, Internet), with the end result of an unprecedented epidemic of addiction, anxiety, depression, and chronic disease. And with the advent of neuromarketing, corporate America has successfully imprisoned us in an endless loop of desire and consumption from which there is no obvious escape.

With his customary wit and incisiveness, Lustig not only reveals the science that drives these states of mind, he points his finger directly at the corporations that helped create this mess, and the government actors who facilitated it, and he offers solutions we can all use in the pursuit of happiness, even in the face of overwhelming opposition. Always fearless and provocative, Lustig marshals a call to action, with seminal implications for our health, our well-being, and our culture.

Die Apokalypse Gottes: Eine Offenbarung

Die Apokalypse Gottes: Eine Offenbarung (German Edition) Paperback – April 13, 2012

German Edition by Alexander Laurent (Author)

Zwangseingewiesen, mit Verdacht auf paranoide Schizophrenie, tritt Thomas Bachspiel eine Therapie bei dem Psychiatriepsychologen Dr. Merten an. Während sich Bachspiels Untergangs- und Verfolgungsängste schon bald gegen seinen Therapeuten richten, glaubt Dr. Merten hinter den Phantasien des unscheinbaren Mannes außerordentliches Gefahrenpotenzial zu erkennen. Als Bachspiel schließlich eines Nachts auf unerklärliche Weise der geschlossenen Abteilung entkommt, beginnen sich im Alltag des Psychologen irritierende Ereignisse zu häufen … Jahrtausendelang verhießen Legenden und Prophezeiungen eine Zeit schwärzester Ereignisse für die Menschheit; eine Zeit, in der jeder Einzelne großen Umwälzungen, enormem Leid und tödlichen Qualen aussetzt sein wird. Dieser Roman ist eine Antwort, keine Fiktion. Er zeigt seinen Lesern, dass mehr als das augenscheinlich Wahrnehmbare existiert. Insbesondere soll er Überlebenden sowie späteren Generationen zu verstehen geben, warum das Ende kam … wieso es sein musste.

Compulsorily committed, with suspicion of paranoid schizophrenia, Thomas Bachspiel enters therapy with the psychiatric psychologist Dr. Merten on. While Bachspiel’s fears of doom and persecution soon turned against his therapist, Dr. Merten to recognize extraordinary potential for danger behind the fantasies of the inconspicuous man. When Bachspiel finally inexplicably escapes the closed department one night, irritating events begin to pile up in the psychologist’s everyday life… For millennia, legends and prophecies promised a time of the darkest events for mankind; a time when every individual will face great upheaval, tremendous suffering and mortal agony. This novel is an answer, not fiction. He shows his readers that there is more than meets the eye. In particular, it should help survivors and later generations to understand why the end came… why it had to be.