 23andMe is struggling: its stock faces delisting, it shut down its drug unit, and most of its board resigned last week. CEO Anne Wojcicki is considering selling the company, meaning the DNA of 15 million users could be up for sale. Unlike passwords, you can’t change your DNA so think twice about giving your data to commercial companies for entertainment purposes. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/if-23andme-is-up-for-sale-so-is-all-that-dna/ar-AA1rl1V1 15 comments
 @carnage4life I assume anyone in EU should be able to ask them to delete any data related to them, through GDPR. Good luck to everyone else 😬 edit: ah, apparently customers can login and ask to delete it, good.  @carnage4life conveniently, just as the government is considering allowing gene patents again. @carnage4life I never gave 23andMe my DNA data. But my parents gave them theirs. Thanks Mom and Dad. @carnage4life I really do think it's a bad thing, but what are the actual risks to an individual of this data being sold? @dans @carnage4life instead of “experian for inaccurate credit scores”, insurance industry sets up “experian for life and health cover using DNA information with medieval, biased, inaccurate and unscientific phrenology-based practices.  @dahukanna @dans @carnage4life Lucky for me, I have a ginormous head. That's a good thing, isn't it? 😆  @carnage4life 23andMe has previously licensed their pseudo-anonymized data to big pharma, which I imagine has been profitable. That said, without a steady stream of new samples to enhance the statistical value, it seems their business model for DNA sampling might face challenges. I wonder if, without ongoing data growth, this sale could end up being more of a one-off transaction or even an asset strip, rather than a sustainable long-term operation.  @carnage4life Also unlike passwords you share it with your whole family.  @carnage4life Please rotate your DNA sequence upon compromise. 🧬🧫 @carnage4life Fortunately European customers' data is covered by GDPR, so we don't have to worry about that, only hacking attacks on the data. Which already happened, IIRC |
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@carnage4life im one of those shlubs. Nice.