4 ms·

Has anyone used 23andme with fake information? If so, how?

homero 9y ago
You could take a strangers saliva
goatsi 9y ago
Tell a work friend or someone you know causally about 23andme. If they show interest suggest buying the kits together to save on shipping costs. Mention that you have a few friends who would be interested as well and give them the cash for a few kits. Their credit card and address will be linked to the purchase. When the kits arrive sell your extras to different causal friends and register yours with completely fake information from public wifi. 23andme will have your DNA but nothing to link it to your identity.
- Nydhal 9y ago
  Why the extras?
  - haar 9y ago
    I'd assume it's to prevent your friend from being able to know that the extra kit was yours? Though if all your friends use their correct information - that information is still leaked, hence the need to distribute them to friends outside of the same social circle to minimise the chances.
    - bigbugbag 9y ago
      With a little cross referencing of third party "anonymized" metadata such as cellphone location, or facebook graph (works with other data set) it is very easy to uncover all the identities involved in this scenario with a high probability of success (>90%). You'd have to push preventive measures further than distributing outside of the same social circle if you are serious about this. One should also consider the legal aspect of this as there are places where faking your online identity is illegal.
jaimex2 9y ago
In Australia you can get pre-paid credit cards from Australia Post and use that for purchase.
ogoldberg 9y ago
Here's a pretty good article on exactly this question: https://www.abine.com/blog/2013/23andme-without-violating-your-genetic-privacy/ https://www.abine.com/blog/2013/23andme-without-violating-yo...
- bigbugbag 9y ago
  Interesting read but too bad it is not practical for people don't work at albine (company making online privacy tools) and falls short of preventing your DNA code from being added to the large collection that is or will be used for whatever unknown purposes.

You could take a strangers saliva

Tell a work friend or someone you know causally about 23andme. If they show interest suggest buying the kits together to save on shipping costs. Mention that you have a few friends who would be interested as well and give them the cash for a few kits. Their credit card and address will be linked to the purchase. When the kits arrive sell your extras to different causal friends and register yours with completely fake information from public wifi. 23andme will have your DNA but nothing to link it to your identity.

Nydhal 9y ago
Why the extras?
- haar 9y ago
  I'd assume it's to prevent your friend from being able to know that the extra kit was yours? Though if all your friends use their correct information - that information is still leaked, hence the need to distribute them to friends outside of the same social circle to minimise the chances.
  - bigbugbag 9y ago
    With a little cross referencing of third party "anonymized" metadata such as cellphone location, or facebook graph (works with other data set) it is very easy to uncover all the identities involved in this scenario with a high probability of success (>90%). You'd have to push preventive measures further than distributing outside of the same social circle if you are serious about this. One should also consider the legal aspect of this as there are places where faking your online identity is illegal.

jaimex2 9y ago

In Australia you can get pre-paid credit cards from Australia Post and use that for purchase.

ogoldberg 9y ago

Here's a pretty good article on exactly this question: https://www.abine.com/blog/2013/23andme-without-violating-your-genetic-privacy/ https://www.abine.com/blog/2013/23andme-without-violating-yo...

bigbugbag 9y ago
Interesting read but too bad it is not practical for people don't work at albine (company making online privacy tools) and falls short of preventing your DNA code from being added to the large collection that is or will be used for whatever unknown purposes.