H-h-how? HOW? do they ‘anonymize’ DNA?!?! Remember how in 2007 ‘anonymized’ netflix data was linked back to actual members? That was just checking what people watched on Netflix compared to what they rated on IMDB.
With DNA, you should be able to figure out who someone is by the fact you an exact DNA record! I mean, it’ll share similarities with your parents, and children, and to a lesser degree, more removed relatives. How hard can it be to figure out that this woman is related to that guy with an arrest record. Or more specifically: this is the exact person because we see other records from any doctor or whatever with the same DNA.
This was an obvious outcome when they were going to IPO. When it was announced they were going public, I exported all of my data and had all of my records with them destroyed.
Then I made a little bit of money on their stock and got out of that too.
As a general rule, when someone says that data is anonymized, they’re one part lying and one part clueless. It sounds great when they say it, but ultimately it’s bullshit. Maybe if we started calling claims like this lies when they were made, a few more people would pay attention.
H-h-how? HOW? do they ‘anonymize’ DNA?!?!
If you really curious, it is possible depending on the sections of the DNA being shared and how aggregated they are. Not saying that this will be the case - it’s quite likely that this sale would be done prioritizing value instead of privacy - but it is possible. The key part is to not treat the whole DNA as a data sample, but specific sequence sections, as isolated as possible.
And the Netflix example is instructive but not super relevant here. If you already have your SNPs in a public database out there, then yeah 23andMe might not be able to effectively anonymize your samples; but you don’t (I hope).
A vast majority of those millions are going to be for the identity rather than just the relevant data. Meanwhile, the genetic profiling companies, drug companies and insurance companies are sociopathic enough to lie through their noses about it.
I have a strong feeling that the data transfer has already happened through data brokers. They are just easing the public into acceptance.
all they ever wanted was a database to sell. we keep falling for the same game…
When we said that data was the new oil in the 80’s, nobody listened.
They still haven’t listened, but if you own stock in those companies at least it’s profitable.
abso fkn lutely. information is the oil of the 21st century.
Hey, at least it’s a renewable source.
Oh man i cant wait to say i told you so to family members
I’m waiting for the part where the US insurance companies are discovered using that data en mass to increase premiums and deny coverage.
That’s going to be my “I told you so”.
That will take a long time, right now analyzing one person’s DNA to a point where an insurance company could profit from it costs way more than the extra profits from denying some potentially short-lived clients.
(or an AI based analyzer is already in the works)
Considering prior authorization is predicated on the fact that if they reject enough requests inevitably some people won’t fight them, meaning they don’t have to pay out, I wouldn’t be surprised if they use a slightly better than chance prediction as justification for denying coverage, if they even need an actual excuse to begin with.
I’m old enough that a lot of things that were going to take a long time have come to pass, so I feel confident this will come.
AI and genetics are both moving fairly fast, and insurance is about numbers and probabilities.
Don’t expect much lol, when I pointed out that this was inevitable the most common response was “who cares?”
Privacy is dead mainly because your average person doesn’t actually care about it
Privacy is dead because of the average person. They were informed several times, but they decided it wasn’t important. And they ruined it for everyone else who cared.
Were they of the idea that when you tick the “my data can be used anonymously for research” box it meant that their data WOULDN’T be used anonymously for research?
People are getting very confused here. You can allow your anonymised data to be used for research. This is not new whatsoever and it’s done by consent.
What IS new is that a company (GSK) are about to start using this data. Data that’s publicly used already. This may help them to develop some new treatments.
No no, just repeat after me: “I can say I tOlD YoU So!” You don’t want to be caught using anything resembling logic when it comes to pharmaceutical companies.
God no, only paranoia and doom allowed.
I won that bet.
This is only if you opted into research. And I am actually happy this is happening. If only one person is helped by research outcomes or medications developed from this, I am happy. I don’t care if 23andMe gets rich from it or not.
