This seems like corporate whitewashing of all the insidious things they will actually sell user data for. Like “yeah we sell user data but only so we can make a cure for cancer” meanwhile they are selling it to organizations that are building biometric monitoring databases straight out of Minority Report.
it wouldn’t be crazy for the 8.8 million 23andMe customers who once absently checked a box saying yeah, sure, use my data for whatever, to feel like they’ve been bait-and-switched now that their genes are laying the groundwork for potential cancer cures.
Yes, it would be crazy. And stupid. As a 23andMe customer this is EXACTLY the kind of thing I expected them to do with the information.
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They do, there is a wide range of genetic tests done on newborns. Mostly looking for rare genetic diseases that need treatment from birth. https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/Newborn-Genetic-Screening
All children born in Sweden after 1975 have blood samples stored in a biobank. A bit scary tbh.
They got the idea from Svalbard. In case of global catastrophe.
That part is great, but I wonder how is this treated legally… I think it should be illegal to keep once tests are done.
The CEO just really likes the taste (and especially the structure) of spit.
I can’t unread this. Good job sir.
What’s funny to me about these DNA testing companies, isn’t the obvious data collection ploy, but the customers who feel compelled to buy the service. So the fuck what you’re 13% Cherokee and 27% Dutch and 5% Eastern African? Try developing a personality or interests.
originally it was sold as a way to quickly detect genetic diseases before they became a problem.
Too many people in the world crave an identity that is original enough to be interesting, but not so original that it can’t be quantified or defined by accepted or understood identity templates. They need to be able to put a name to their identity so they can talk about it.
I never understood the appeal of the business in the first place. Why would you care who your great great great grandpa was? I don’t even care who my Grandpa was.
It’s commonly used by Adoptees to find their biological family. This can be important for a few reasons, including finally getting accurate family health history.
i had a coworker from my last job find his birth mother through one of these dna websites. the happiness he had on his face when he came back after finally meeting his biological family made me think about 1) how fortunate I am and 2) how many people have used these services to connect to long lost family members.
the good outweighs the bad for now, imo.
Yeah this doesn’t bother me. And I tend to be a somewhat paranoid person. But I got convinced to do one of these by my partner. And so far, no regrets. They had some family surprises, but they don’t regret it either. If they make some cool new meds with my DNA (honestly even if I have only the knowledge that they made meds from 23andme) I’m just going to go around saying hey that might have my DNA in it.
Just wait until you guys find out what they’re really doing is cloning us all to replace us with mindless worker drones. I accidentally met mine. They were nice. Bought me a coffee. Then I got real sleepy and woke up half buried in the woods. Real strange day.
Wow! It’s something nobody could have ever guessed!
kinda inevitable. with as fast as dna can be sequenced now… we are publicly broadcasting this information. how can we realistically protect something we broadcast. its kinda like having your photo taken in public. at some point, its gunna happen.
do you have an expectation of privacy on data you publicly broadcast 24/7 everywhere all the time? i dont think so. i think its silly to try.
its only a matter a time before most of the world is captured into a continually aggregated genetic database of unique individuals which will inevitably all link back together.
are there going to be bad actors? yep. lets prosecute those mofos, but this kind of aggregations is far from evil or wrong or… stoppable.
how can we realistically protect something we broadcast.
With appropriate privacy laws and security measures. A smartphone is publicly broadcasting information, in that any other person could receive the radio transmissions emitted from them. But such eavesdropping would be illegal in most cases, and is mostly encrypted to hinder bad actors who don’t obey such laws.
It’s important we act now to ensure there are suitable privacy provisions in place now for all biometrics, before such things as mass DNA collection and sequencing are practical. Once such technology is available, perhaps we will also have to adapt our behaviour in public to prevent leakage of unprotected biometric assets.
Time to start advocating for biometric privacy, and investing in bodysuits and hair nets.
you are completely ignoring the fact that a global genetic database is not only in progress, it is inevitable.
you cannot protect something you not only broadcast to the entire world with every breathe, but are also incapable of stopping or encrypting that data, or breaking its chain back to the other humans to which you got yours from.
we absolutely should protect humans from corporations looking to abuse this data, but you need to understand. its public data, and there is zero you can do about its existence or aggregation.
surprisedpikachuface
No shit sherlock
Not suprised. Also not suprised they have been handing this data over to law enforcement for years now. Its no just to track down people whove taken said test but also people who are related even distantly. The fbi estimates they can use dna evidance to single dowm the possible people to 2 or 3 out of the entiriry of the us
The fbi estimates they can use dna evidance to single dowm the possible people to 2 or 3 out of the entiriry of the us
i am not sure what you mean by this sentence, but you probably misunderstood something.
dna doesn’t single down anything, as in it would help you track something. it tells you if two genetic profiles are a match (that means they come from same person), or that they are genetically similar and how distant they are - that tells you that the profiles come from x times removed relatives. after that, it is down to normal police work.
here is veritasium video about how they used this technology to find and convict the infamous golden state killer - https://piped.video/watch?v=KT18KJouHWg
Yeah and with a big enough database u can get an almost perfect modal of the country and everyones placw in it.
with big enough database you simple have every single person in it. that still doesn’t back up the quote i disputed in any way. can you find source of the quote? i’d be interested to see the original.
They caught the Bay Area Strangler(or whatever his title was) by finding a dna relative match on one of these services and using that to narrow down suspects. DNA can absolutely be used to narrow things down without just having a direct 1:1 match saying it’s THAT person.
My father ignored the fact that I found out he had another sister, so I don’t really give a shit. Do what ya want 23andMe
Everyone who thinks this is legitimately bad. I ask, what do you think of AI art data sets? Sometimes, to make something new you have to have mass amount of data to start with.
I think people who paid to have a service, checked a box for their sample to be used for research, and the research is to cure disease, have significantly lower reason to be upset than an artist who used Twitter to upload their work and had said work used as a data set to train a product that will try to make their career even MORE financially immposible.
Boohoo. You signed up for a good cause. Get over it.
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23andme requires you to agree to what they ask, which is far more than what Johns Hopkins did for Henrietta Lacks.
There’s a big difference between a person’s DNA and a person’s art. DNA is the principle part of someone’s biometric identity, which can be used to reveal an enormous amount of information about a person. Hence it is not unreasonable to expect that its usage will be handled in a careful and clearly defined manner. Most countries have very strict laws on biometric data for a reason.
The same can not be said for a piece of art. While an an artwork will often convey aspects of the artist’s personality, and can conform to an identifiable style, it would provide no where near the level of insight into a persons physical identity as a DNA sample.
It also seems a stretch to conflate sharing something privately and publishing something publicly. The former will have expectations of privacy and control, regardless of whatever is stated any legalese incomprehensible to the average person. The latter however assumes a loss of control, to share something publicly is in some ways to cede it to the public.
Here’s the difference, an artist can make more art. You cannot change your DNA. If someone steals some of your art it’s not the end of the world. You can make more. If someone has your DNA, you can’t change it. Once its out there that’s it. More over having someone’s DNA can give you significant insight into into just the person whose DNA you have but also their parents and their children.
Once its out there that’s it.
But the subject put it out themslevss. More over, they paid for it be used. No one was tricked, captured or coerced in to giving their DNA.
As opposed to an artist who is promoting themselves and their craft, used without their knowledge to replicate their work.
By biological father was an anonymous sperm donor before the technology to sequence a person’s DNA for under 10 billion dollars was a thing. They did not give their DNA to ancestry. Their sister did, having no clue that her brother had donated. Yet ancestry has matched her to several nieces and nephews, outing her brother’s history to his sister and the children who were never supposed to have access to that info. It’s not just your own information.
Similarly, one of my half siblings suddenly found out that his dad wasn’t his birth dad.
Anyways, he happens to be cool with the fact that he suddenly had contact with offspring who weren’t supposed to know who he was.
But our DNA is interconnected. It doesn’t just belong to one person.
It’s interconnected, sure, but I think you’d have an uphill battle that it doesn’t belong to that person.
Oh sure, they’ll sell people’s DNA to insurance companies to help them discriminate against people, but it’s such a good cause.
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