Summary
Genetic testing company 23andMe has filed for bankruptcy, putting the DNA data of millions of users at risk of being sold.
Privacy advocates have urged consumers to delete their data amid fears it could be sold to data brokers or used for targeted advertising.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta advised customers to consider deleting their profiles after the company’s share price crash heightened concerns.
CEO Anne Wojcicki reportedly rejected three takeover bids before the bankruptcy filing, raising questions about the company’s future and data protection.
I say this without schadenfreude, but I fucking called it straight out of the gate.
Every single person who was enticed or cajoled into submitting these tests as a novelty or curiosity has potentially compromised the personal security of every single member of their immediate & extended family, as well as their descendants. At the very least, those parties previously mentioned may face ludicrous rates for life/health insurance or outright denial of coverage. The company to which they submitted their genetic code no longer exists, and their family’s entire biological blueprint is on the auction block. Think before you make decisions, people.
Think before you make decisions, people
Are you really saying that now, in the trump era after trump actually won by votes?
I am 100%. Just because you say something doesn’t mean that someone else will agree, but if you don’t say it they’ll turn around and claim that no one disagrees with them. The doltish Red Wave certainly wasn’t for lack of debates or opposition, but it bears saying anyway.
their family’s entire biological blueprint
I don’t believe this part holds up. The type of sequencing you’re talking about is an incredibly labor- and time-intensive task. The good folk at these fastfood laboratories are just comparing historical markers and shooting off a list of what those markers tell about you.
It still remains to be seen if insurance companies will eat this data up or not, but they will have trouble providing any justification for dismissing claims without sounding pretty racist.
Here comes venture capital to the “rescue!”
Private equity hedge fund. Covers all the bases.
/s
Fred: pulls off venture capital mask to reveal private equity mask underneath
Daphne: pulls off private equity mask to reveal 1% mask
Shaggy: pulls off 1% mask to reveal klan hood
Velma: “Ji—eezus Christ!”
Yup, it was Cletus all along!
deleted by creator
Pretty sure they already shared all that data with the feds. They can cross reference and calculate the DNA of almost every person in the US that has a family there. I guess it would be worse if a private company could do that too, but with Trump im not sure if thats even true anymore.
The Nazis would have given everything for this tech.
Veritasiums vid on this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT18KJouHWg
And a quote from the top comment
“My biggest concern is health insurance. If you have someone’s DNA profile, and that gets into the wrong hands, or laws enacted, resulting in health insurance companies having access to knowing that this person has a proclivity to Parkinson’s, then rates could skyrocket. This is a massive privacy issue.”
Luckily we have GINA which, like most other things that would give people rights, won’t be enforced.
Ah man, imagine the world if governments and companies actually respected basic human rights.
I always think that my depression comes from having watched too much Star Trek as a kid. I expected better for us by now.
You should have paid attention to the timeline. In the Star Trek timeline we should expect world war 3 to start next year and go for thirty years. The first warp flight and first contact is after that, and it’s only after that that the “better for us” even starts happening.
Did you mean: Gattaca?
I remember that video when it was new, and how very uncritical veritasium was
Disappointing
Yeah the dude is pretty boring in that sense. Definition of a wet rag when it comes to taking a political stance.
but hey, at least some americans got to make a twitter post about their irish+italian+french+british+swedish+argentinian ancestry!
I’m so glad I was never dumb enough to send them or any other ancestry company a dna sample.
The problem is that your whole family has to be not dumb enough.
Yep - both parents and my only sibling have done it. Thanks, guys, glad I didn’t call this a decade ago.
Cassandra of Troy just called, she said that no one listens to her either 😑
I hope you hung up on her after saying “yeah, yeah, Cassie, whatever.”
I was the holdout. They bought me a kit and it felt pointless resisting.
Guess I was right and too much of a slug to stand up for it.
They’re saying if you were the only holdup it doesn’t matter. If enough of your semi-close relatives submitted their DNA, yours can be extrapolated reasonably accurately from that.
Might want to tell the fam to delete theirs, maybe help them through the process. Bonta’s announcement has a list of the steps, but only you know which of your family will need help.
While plenty in my family are that stupid, they are first and foremost cheap as fuck, way to cheap for a frivolous thing like this.
I’m not too worried but even if they did there is fuck all I can do about it now.
Therein lies the rub. A complete catalogue is not necessary when a partially completed jigsaw puzzle will suffice. A lot of people have unexpected uncomfortable questions in their future about their grandmother’s massive stroke, their uncle’s schizophrenia, their cousin’s mania-induced crime spree, or maybe even their 3rd-cousin’s cancer diagnosis. Rates are set to increase across the board, no family is immune.
I don’t speak to any of my extended family, but I’m hoping the fact that there’s been so much shitty behavior that none of them would want to expose any more of it via DNA. My mom already has 8 siblings she knows of, it wouldn’t be a surprise if there were a couple more out there, and pretty much all of my uncles are the type to have affairs.
I was coerced into it because someone thought they were my illegitimate half-sibling. I was extremely hesitant due to privacy concerns but I succumbed to family pressure. Through the test, we discovered she’s more likely to be my cousin. Immediately after, I “deleted” all my info. I guess you can only take their word for it.
When I was in college (jeez that’s like 7 years ago) I did my dissertation on the future of privacy and I spent 7-8 pages on DNA tracking like 23andMe.
As a business and invasion of personal identity is immoral.
However the major point of ethicality is for police work, as I believe it was ancestry that helped catch the golden state killer. I believe it was ancestry relative of the serial killer did the test and there was a used cigarette at the site of a murder and tracked back to him.
It’s a whole philosophical debacle. Is it right to keep the dna of millions stored to prevent or capture a handful of potentially dangerous individuals.
Is it right to keep the dna of millions stored to prevent or capture a handful of potentially dangerous individuals.
No. Who decides what’s a “potentially dangerous” individual? Obviously rapists and murderers are a low bar but what if they decide to start using it for lesser crimes or protesters? Or to persecute “undesirables”? Our current administration is a great example of why having this information available to the government is a terrible idea. Any safeguards can easily be stripped away.
Oh I agree with you, since it was my dissertation I had to argue for both sides. The view of “potential danger” is not worth the weight of violating a natural human right.
I touched upon similar a social credit scoring system, where in ideology with big brother crime rates will go down, however the trade off is people will have less faith in others. As people will no longer be able to determine altruism, are you helping me because you’re a good person, or just to boost your credit score.
The safest way to do it is to not participate, which is why I have not participated and none of my family have. I am glad this trend seems to be dying out.
I am unfortunately not so lucky. My brother’s idiot wife jumped right on board as soon as it was available. Even after I told them how terrible of an idea it was.
I mean, this is kinda hilarious to me. The vast majority of people I know that did this, were right wing hoping to find out exactly how “European” they are. When asked about it, they rarely wanted to talk about it.
I can’t ask them to delete my data because I forgot the fake birthday I used for the fake name and they keep asking for it for “security”. Alas. If in 5-10 years I’m living in a country that allows genetic discrimination either openly or through lack of enforcement I feel like I have bigger problems to worry about.
I’m more annoyed that forgetting that date also means I can’t download my data so I can’t use 3rd party analysis tools.
I always thought it was a bad idea and never did it. However my parents did it, and I’m sure a lot of what is known about them applies to me.
Whaaaaaaaaat??? Noooo wayyyy… I never thought this would happen… Man oh man the unforseenness of this event is staggering who would’ve thought this scheme could have ever gone bad??? See, that’s why I only trust the Mormon Church with my genetic data and ancestry. Smh
What do you got, the whole town’s DNA on file?
Yuh-huh. If you’ve ever handled a penny, the government’s got your DNA. Why do you think they keep them in circulation?
Eh. My DNA is all over the place. NBD.
Stupidity of people deserves it
