OT: 23andMe

TMI.

He got a discount because it wasn't all there.

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Yes, and about 3% kangaroo, which the family long ago declined to explain. :)

Sorry Bill, just having a little fun at your expense. (You can laugh next time you jump!)

Does anyone else here believe DNA testing is (or will become) a privacy iss ue? I mean, unless you're an orphan with no idea of your roots, then maybe the upside definitely wins.

But I can help thinking this DNA testing stuff is the new "last 4 digits" o f your social security number. Because in that case, if you know where, an d approximately when someone was born, then you can very easily derive thei r SSN. (They don't tell you that when asking, of course.)

So what are they not telling us about DNA testing? I wonder.

It is totally a privacy issue. If you get your DNA done with Ancestry.com, they hold the *copyright* to your DNA sequence and have the right to *sell* the data.

Think about that for a new seconds.

Nope. Nope, nope, nope. Not this little black duck, I'm not doing that.

From

Who's making money from your DNA? (bbc.com) Richard Stein Sat, 2 Mar 2019 09:02:39 -0800

"If you've ever sent off your DNA to an ancestry or health-screening company for analysis, chances are your DNA data will be shared with third parties for medical research or even for solving crime, unless you've specifically asked the company not to do so.

"The point was brought home in late January when it emerged that genetic genealogy company FamilyTreeDNA was working with the FBI to test DNA samples provided by law enforcement to help identify perpetrators of violent crime. Another DNA testing company, 23andMe, has signed a $300m deal with pharmaceuticals giant GSK to help it develop new drugs.

"But are customers aware that third parties may have access to their DNA data for medical research? And do these kinds of tie-ups bring benefits -- or should we be concerned?"

Risk: Insider?Phlebotomists might be enticed by genealogy services or intelligence or law enforcement agencies to surreptitiously contribute an extra blood sample from a routine wellness visit to a physician's office or hospital trip. The metadata for tracing ownership is on the sample label, and only a few drops of blood are necessary.

... or this example from

Cops are asking Ancestry.com and 23andMe for their customers' DNA (Kashmir Hill) Dewayne Hendricks

Kashmir Hill, *Fusion*, 16 Oct 2015

When companies like Ancestry.com and 23andMe first invited people to send in their DNA for genealogy tracing and medical diagnostic tests, privacy advocates warned about the creation of giant genetic databases that might one day be used against participants by law enforcement. DNA, after all, can be a key to solving crimes. It ?has serious information about you and your family,'' genetic privacy advocate Jeremy Gruber told me back in 2010 when such services were just getting popular.

Now, five years later, when 23andMe and Ancestry Both have over a million customers, those warnings are looking prescient. ?Your relative's DNA could turn you into a suspect,'' warns Wired, writing about a case from earlier this year, in which New Orleans filmmaker Michael Usry became a suspect in an unsolved murder case after cops did a familial genetic search using s**en collected in 1996. The cops searched an Ancestry.com database and got a familial match to a saliva sample Usry's father had given years earlier. Usry was ultimately determined to be innocent and the Electronic Frontier Foundation called it a wild goose chase that demonstrated ?the very real threats to privacy and civil liberties posed by law enforcement access to private genetic databases.''

The FBI maintains a national genetic database with samples from convicts and arrestees, but this was the most public example of cops turning to private genetic databases to find a suspect. But it's not the only time it's happened, and it means that people who submitted genetic samples for reasons of health, curiosity, or to advance science could now end up in a genetic line-up of criminal suspects.

Both Ancestry.com and 23andMe stipulate in their privacy policies that they will turn information over to law enforcement if served with a court order. 23andMe says it's received a couple of requests from both state law enforcement and the FBI, but that it has ?successfully resisted them.'' [...]

Wrong. I logged onto their website and got the standard price.

Cursitor Doom is remarkably dim.

Perhaps industry and government figure that citizens with DNA sequences unknown to them are a security issue.

That is to say unlike the American people who tend to be slow to pick up on things, industry and government already understand that the only way to ensure there is no home for illegal immigrants here, and only mentally fit citizens with no markers for disorders, are allowed to own firearms, is to have a record of everyone's genetic sequence on file. Are you a legal citizen? Can you own a gun? Simply consult the file.

The American people lately seem to in large part support police unconditionally and want very much for them to have the authority to do that whenever they wish.

. :)

t time you jump!)

ssue?

e upside definitely wins.

of your social security number. Because in that case, if you know where, and approximately when someone was born, then you can very easily derive th eir SSN. (They don't tell you that when asking, of course.)

I donated samples the VA's 'Million Veteran Program'. It is supposed to com pare the DNA to the health issues to see if they can target some issues bef ore they cause a lot of problems.

Same is true here.

The alternative is unpleasant.

There's certainly a lot of information there.

My nephew doesn't seem to have the 0.1% of East Asian/native American genetic material that I do. My bits were on two different chromosomes, which emphasises the lottery aspect.

I think a lot of right-wingers may be surprised when they find out a lotta these Real American-populist types and jack-booted coppers and military turn around and tell them "we were never your friends" and have much different ideas about who _actually_ runs the country than "the people."

'bout the most a left-libertarian can say is "you panicked over an illegal-immigration panic cuz you thought white people were gonna go extinct (lol!) and sold out your freedoms for pennies on the dollar. told you so."