4 ms·

Remember that one of the key investors is Sergey Brin, so "Don't be evil" would apply to 23andMe. Sergey is married to the co-founder of 23andMe, Anne Wojcicki.

jacquesm 17y ago
"Don't be evil" is at this point no more than a marketing slogan and I really don't see how it would apply to 23andme. Read their privacy policy first, then decide if you think that 23andme does not explicitly hold open the door to do 'evil'. edit: afterthought, in fact, any company associated with Google in that way would probably be the last party to give even more private information to, they have enough, if not too much, already.
- moultano 17y ago
  Out of honest curiosity, is it a matter of principle for you, or do you really feel harmed by anything companies have done with your private data? Is it a worry about future harm?
  - jacquesm 17y ago
    It's mostly about potential, not about stuff done to me. The EU now requires fingerprints to be given with your passport application, and the Netherlands, the country where I live has added a little goodie, they're going to keep one nice big fat file with all the prints in them, in case your future self commits some crime (of course, ostensibly that's not what it is for, it is to prevent the (scary sounds) terrorists from getting passports). Stuff like this tends to end bad, and the easiest way to avoid bad endings is to be very careful at the beginning. I can imagine all kinds of ways in which data like this could be misused, every year there are huge breaches of the public trust with sensitive data, be it credit cards, social security numbers, 'anonymized' releases, rogue employees and so on. It's only a matter of time before some big time problem will arise out of a DNA database and I think to caution people to not send out their data without due consideration of the possible consequences is irresponsible. What surprises me most is how the hacker community seems to be fairly gung ho about this, and rushes to take advantage of this 'bargain'. I'm considering not renewing my passport simply because I don't want to be a 'potential suspect' in every future crime on european soil. Of course, that will make me even more of a suspect for every past crime but that's just too bad. Sending my DNA off to some commercial third party for 'analysis' and resale (at least they're nice about that bit, they mention it in their policy) is one of the last things I would do.
    - grandalf 17y ago
      Thanks for your well-articulated comments in this thread. I am glad someone is sticking up for the opposing view.

jacquesm 17y ago

"Don't be evil" is at this point no more than a marketing slogan and I really don't see how it would apply to 23andme. Read their privacy policy first, then decide if you think that 23andme does not explicitly hold open the door to do 'evil'. edit: afterthought, in fact, any company associated with Google in that way would probably be the last party to give even more private information to, they have enough, if not too much, already.

moultano 17y ago
Out of honest curiosity, is it a matter of principle for you, or do you really feel harmed by anything companies have done with your private data? Is it a worry about future harm?
- jacquesm 17y ago
  It's mostly about potential, not about stuff done to me. The EU now requires fingerprints to be given with your passport application, and the Netherlands, the country where I live has added a little goodie, they're going to keep one nice big fat file with all the prints in them, in case your future self commits some crime (of course, ostensibly that's not what it is for, it is to prevent the (scary sounds) terrorists from getting passports). Stuff like this tends to end bad, and the easiest way to avoid bad endings is to be very careful at the beginning. I can imagine all kinds of ways in which data like this could be misused, every year there are huge breaches of the public trust with sensitive data, be it credit cards, social security numbers, 'anonymized' releases, rogue employees and so on. It's only a matter of time before some big time problem will arise out of a DNA database and I think to caution people to not send out their data without due consideration of the possible consequences is irresponsible. What surprises me most is how the hacker community seems to be fairly gung ho about this, and rushes to take advantage of this 'bargain'. I'm considering not renewing my passport simply because I don't want to be a 'potential suspect' in every future crime on european soil. Of course, that will make me even more of a suspect for every past crime but that's just too bad. Sending my DNA off to some commercial third party for 'analysis' and resale (at least they're nice about that bit, they mention it in their policy) is one of the last things I would do.
  - grandalf 17y ago
    Thanks for your well-articulated comments in this thread. I am glad someone is sticking up for the opposing view.