2 ms·
Full disclosure: I worked 6 years for a private DNA analysis company. I left the company over two years ago in pursuit of challenges closer to my passions -- ro
by inetknght 4y ago
Full disclosure: I worked 6 years for a private DNA analysis company. I left the company over two years ago in pursuit of challenges closer to my passions -- robotics.
> Your DNA isn't "public data".
You shed DNA every day in dead skin cells; if you're in public then it's effectively public trash and most public trash is... well... public. If you eat or drink at a restaurant then you've left your DNA on the utensils and cups.
Even beyond that: Are you sure your relatives haven't given their DNA? It is possible to reconstruct your DNA using the DNA of your relatives.
> Nobody's DNA should be harvested and given to a private corporation, no matter what the purported purpose.
This much I fully agree on. Private businesses should have no business in DNA analysis. Private businesses aren't beholden to nearly as much public scrutiny. Unfortunately, DNA analysis is (or, was when I left) a growing private business.
- defrost 4y agoTo clarify an important point glossed over and ignored here: This isn't just "public DNA" shed anonymously drifting about in the wind . . . This is the conjunction of two sets - "public DNA" AND the identity and detailed health record of the body that DNA came from. A bucket of "public DNA" is interesting, sure, if you're into that - but it becomes a whole lot more when classified by (say) those that contracted cancer Vs those that didn't - particularly when combined with environmental factors, etc.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- fwip 4y agoYou shed DNA, sure, but that doesn't make it public data. If tomorrow we invented a tool to read your thoughts based on the electromagnetic waves your brain emits, that doesn't suddenly make your thoughts public data.