Who’s to blame when your brain implant makes you go haywire?

Edition: US - Today's top story: It's not my fault, my brain implant made me do it [Click here to view this message in your web-browser](. Edition: US 3 April 2018 [[The Conversation]Academic rigor, journalistic flair]( Editor's note The brain is the seat of one’s agency, autonomy and responsibility. So what happens if you get electrodes implanted in your brain to help control a debilitating condition – and unforeseen “side effects” cause out-of-character behavior? Who’s legally or morally responsible if you do something bad under the influence of your brain implants? Michigan State neuroethicist Laura Cabrera and legal scholar Jennifer Carter-Johnson write that “[society should start grappling with these questions now](, before they must be decided in a court of law.” Bodycam use by police has been seen as the ultimate arbiter of conflicts between law enforcement and civilians, including in the recent police shooting of Stephon Clark, an unarmed African-American man in Sacramento. But bodycams are not the panacea the public hopes for, [write scholars Deryn Strange and Kristyn Jones](. Human and technological limitations, they write, can get in the way of seeing what really happened. Raising chickens has become an unlikely social trend across the nation in recent decades as Americans look for ways to connect to their food sources. While a few backyard birds might not seem like much to worry about, Catherine Brinkley and Jacqueline Kingsley of the University of California, Davis found [cause for concern]( when they reviewed Colorado’s municipal regulations for urban poultry flocks. In their view, cities need much stronger regulations to protect both humans and chickens. Maggie Villiger Science + Technology Editor Top Stories Probes that can transmit electricity inside the skull raise questions about personal autonomy and responsibility. Hellerhoff [It's not my fault, my brain implant made me do it]( Laura Y. Cabrera, Michigan State University; Jennifer Carter-Johnson, Michigan State University Where does responsibility lie if a person acts under the influence of their brain implant? As neurotechnologies advance, a neuroethicist and a legal expert write that now's the time to hash it out. Police bodycam image of Lamar Wright, who was recovering from surgery when he was pepper-sprayed and zapped with a stun gun by two officers in Euclid, Ohio. AP/Euclid police [Why bodycam footage might not clear things up]( Deryn Strange, John Jay College of Criminal Justice; Kristyn Jones, John Jay College of Criminal Justice The use of bodycams promised to settle disputes about what really happens in police interactions with civilians. But they might not, because of both human and technological limitations. 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