I was never so fucking stupid as to give my DNA to them.
I remember I didn’t and thank fucking god, because this would have been me:
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/tech/23andme-user-data-stolen-shkenazi-jewish-users/3336464/
Still waiting for the fallout from that. It won’t be pretty.
Yeah. Why am I not surprised.
I’m still glad I did.
Lead me to finding my biological family.
And as far as side effects go, there’s not much they can use it for that will bother me.
This whole “meh I don’t care about privacy, take my data” attitude among younger generations is going to cause us SO MANY PROBLEMS in 20 years.
And what are these problems you foresee?
Being denied medical insurance because you have a genetic predisposition for certain diseases.
New government comes into power, decides homosexuality is illegal. Digs into your post history, finds your comments supporting homosexuality, you go to prison.
Someone takes a bunch of photos of you, uses AI to create a lifelike video of you doing a lewd sex act, and then blackmails you with it.
Identity theft cases go through the roof.
Employers refuse to hire you because of an argument you had on facebook when you were 14.
You’re really REALLY craving ice cream. Predictive algorithms knew you would be craving ice cream right now. So your personal price for ice cream at every store is now 3x what it usually is.
You call in sick to work, but actually go to visit a sick friend. Your car reports your location to your boss, and you’re fired.
Regarding the second argument: unless something really bad happens in the country, wouldnt it be impossible to put someone in prison for breaking a law that didnt exist you did the action?
I know this is prohibited in the romanian constitution and i know that the entire document was inspired by the american constitution so i just assumed that it was a common thing to have in a constitution. I have seen a lot of people(including americans) use being charged for a crime that didnt exist when you committed it as a pro-privacy argument and im not sure if other countries just forgot to put one of the most important thing in their constitution
Illegal? Probably. Impossible? No.
Honestly most of these sound like America problems, insurance, employers digging through history, cars reporting to workplaces, etc.
Companies already have profile information on me, or 95% accurate generalisations for my demographic. And no way would such price gouging tactics be allowed in my country.
The most plausible ones, such as a government targeting me - well the only other option is to live my life underground and that defeats the whole purpose of pride. So yeah I’ll gladly risk being myself publicly in spite of the risks.
Look at the end of the day, things could change 180 a new oppressive and more American like government could come in and make my life shitty. But the thing is, if they’ve already managed to come in, they’re going to make my life shitty regardless of what information I have out there.
Mass data harvesting, inevitable data breach - oh look, you have genetic markers for some degenerative condition, and for some reason you’re now suddenly getting booted off your insurance and refused coverage.
Worst that could happen is that you get denied insurance coverage or pay a bigger premium than you should. Or get caught easier if you decide to succumb to a life of crime. Or in the future they might be able to figure out if you have predisposition towards addictive behaviors and market gambling and stuff to you.
So hopefully nothing too bad, but personally I’d still feel iffy about a private corporation owning the rights to my DNA.
I don’t have health insurance and the world already advertises addictive shit to me and everyone else.
I’m not too worried about it.
People are morons for doing these things and expecting any privacy.
23andMe has a “request data deletion” feature. I don’t know if it actually works, but it’s worth a try if you’re worried about it.
Yep, I had my data deleted. They told me so, but I don’t for a second believe it.
23 Data Miners and Me.
The worst thing is I’ve never consented to them having my DNA but they have half of it anyway thanks to my brother…
They have 98% of it thanks to those damn dirty apes
My identical twin brother who gave it to them…
That is one of the rare situations where it likely works to your advantage. Any negative thing you do with with your DNA will be pinned on your brother because its his name associated with the DNA you share.
It’s the recipe for the perfect crime!
I thought identical twins usually had like a dozen of so diffing mutations by the time they reach adulthood.
I’m not familiar with 23andme enough to know if their markers would pick up on it.
Having asleep zombie family can be the worst.
But you can get some sick abs!
stops mid stroke wait, those things are for saliva?
Yes. The other liquid only has half the DNA and they don’t do half price.
That’s why I’ve been sending two at a time.
DNA might contain health information, but unlike a doctor’s office, 23andMe is not bound by the health-privacy law HIPAA. And the company’s privacy policies make clear that in the event of a merger or an acquisition, customer information is a salable asset. 23andMe promises to ask its customers’ permission before using their data for research or targeted advertising, but that doesn’t mean the next boss will do the same. It says so right there in the fine print: The company reserves the right to update its policies at any time. A spokesperson acknowledged to me this week that the company can’t fully guarantee the sanctity of customer data, but said in a statement that “any scenario which impacts our customer’s data would need to be carefully considered. We take the privacy and trust of our customers very seriously, and would strive to maintain commitments outlined in our Privacy Statement.”
There needs to be government protection of your DNA, but the government probably doesn’t want that
We take it very seriously, just not as seriously as money.
I had my sample destroyed the day they went public.
*you hope
Lol, sure you did.
They seem trustworthy. /s
Nope, I never did
But you can’t control what your family does.
Honestly terrifying. Once that info is out there, who knows what could happen.
Will insurance use it to see if you’re pre-disposed to something and charge more?
Will a fascist group use it to find groups they think are undesirable? What if there’s a genetic component or predisposition to being gay/trans?
Will future terrorists or governments use it to engineer a virus that only affects a group of people? Assasinate an enemy and their entire family?
There’s a podcast sequel to Orphan Black that uses the plot from your last point, and it is excellent
There’s a podcast sequel to Orphan Black
Squeals like a little girl and heads to AntennaPod app
Edit: EEE it actually stars Tatiana Maslany herself! 🥰
It’s honestly so freaking good. I really wish they’d make another season, but I don’t see it happening now that they’ve done Echos (which I haven’t seen yet, no spoilers!). My only complaint is the first season doesn’t have Felix’s voice actor, but season 2 does, and it’s fantastic.
You should probably just assume that your genetic information is already or will be out there at some point. If you want to protect against how it could be used against you, my suggestion would be to change your last name from a genetically-based one to one chosen by you. It isn’t foolproof since the name change is public record, but it creates a firewall that makes it harder.
That’s why I changed my legal name to “Marijuana Plant Johnson”
Too unique for a name database. Just change your last name to Nguyen or Chan. Throw off the scent.
Mohammed Nguyen it is
Ugh paywall.