If 23 and Me goes bankrupt, they will sell all of the biometric data they’ve collected over decades to the highest bidder. Why can’t the US government step in to purchase the company and establish a public trust?
How accurate is that data? I have a relative who received different results from their family tree than expected. So they sent it in again. Different results. Annoyed, they sent on yet another test. Again, different results. Not slight either, entire additions and subtractions.
very accurate in my case.
You really need to be careful when taking the samples. No eating, drinking and especially no kissing etc for a couple hours (at least 1h iirc)
Probably works better if you are Caucasian with a long line of ancestors from Europe.
I’m indigenous in Canada and I find that these tests don’t seem to work too well for minorities or indigenous groups that don’t have a lot of recorded history or a large percentage of individuals of the same ethnic background who take the same tests.
Mine said indigenous which I already know … it just didn’t specify who what where or region other than North America.
Why would the government care? Lol they don’t care about a genocide or crippling medical care costs why would they decide to have a moral compass now?
Honestly, the law enforcement implications of the government buying the database is just as scary as a 3rd party. Hell I bet a company buys the data and sells access to the FBI, and local law enforcement for a subscription fee.
Now you’re thinking in capitalism!
Law enforcement already can just subpoena/get-a-search-warrant-for them all they want. Why would they bother with paying a fee?
You answered your own question. So they don’t need a warrant. For a fee, they can run ALL DNA collected against just about everyone, no probable cause required.
the law enforcement implications of the government buying the database is just as scary as
… governments forming an arms-length secure repository for your healthcare or passport or tax or criminal data with regulations, procedures and penalties around proper or improper access.
Oh shit: they do.
Calm down. It’s in its worst state now, and the non-profit alternatives fail and go under as often as dotcoms (to similar off-sale effect after a period of really shitty security); so the idea of trusting the people you’ve elected to keep the public trust, to keep more of the public in trust, in the public eye and subject to your continued tuning at the voting booths, is a viable option.
I love the downvotes. Like “nah, it’d be cool to keep a guiding hand on this issue, but placing it in the only such way to do exactly that is for losers. Go Neutrons! You could take Regionals!”
Why should they?
Anyone who used 23 and Me agreed that their genetic code was able to be used my 23 and Me for whatever they want. Why is it now the job of the government to jump in and give those people retroactive protection.
Because those people never agreed to it being used by anyone else. And it’s in the public interest to protect everyone from their highly-sensitive biometric data being misused.
Unfortunately, everyone who used their service did agree to it. Directly from their Privacy Policy:
Commonly owned entities, affiliates and change of ownership
If we are involved in a bankruptcy, merger, acquisition, reorganization, or sale of assets, your Personal Information may be accessed, sold or transferred as part of that transaction and this Privacy Statement will apply to your Personal Information as transferred to the new entity. We may also disclose Personal Information about you to our corporate affiliates to help operate our services and our affiliates’ services.
https://www.23andme.com/legal/privacy/#data-sharing
Whether this will hold up in court is a bit murky. But without a large, laborious court battle, they can and will sell the data and they are “legally” allowed to
I don’t really want the government tracking our genetic history, either.
Wouldn’t it be just a lot easier to prevent them from selling it in the first place
I’m surprised nobody mentioned the film Gattaca, which is centered around genetic identity.
Because nobody trusts the public and the public doesn’t trust anybody.
Yet Millions of the same public gave 23nme their genetic data for basically nothing. So maybe trust isn’t the angle.
