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So, what rich billionaire wants to buy the company, anonymize the data, then release it open-source? Would be a genuine boon to biohackers everywhere, privacy b

So, what rich billionaire wants to buy the company, anonymize the data, then release it open-source? Would be a genuine boon to biohackers everywhere, privacy be damned.

rvnx 2y ago
Like the husband of the founder ?
Y_Y 2y ago
Anonymise DNA? With due respect to Poe's law, I spend a lot of talk hearing about how data can be made "anonymous" and somehow you could use it without running into problems with PII. And it's usually wishful or naive. This really takes the cake though. You could certainly aggregate the data in way that preserves some (differential) privacy. But DNA is the the least impersonal data I could imagine.
- nukem222 2y ago
  > But DNA is the the least impersonal data I could imagine. I imagine there are far more devastating bits of PII to publish than genes, like your porn-watching habits. I don't think this is a strong rhetorical stance to defend genetic data. Contract law is kind of diseased. I don't think it's a good idea to build a society around letting people sign basic protection from corporations away.
  - Y_Y 2y ago
    For clarity, I agree completely. I don't think DNA is likely to be damaging of its own accord (unless they find your blood at a crime scene or something). What I'm getting is more that it's very identifying.
SequoiaHope 2y ago
I’m not well versed in issues with genetics to discuss the merits but one thing I will say is that billionaires tend not to do things like this because, I think, in order to become a billionaire you necessarily have to have a view of the world which seems to filter out a desire to give away large amounts of value. There are SO MANY social problems which billionaires are at least financially capable of solving which they do not in fact solve simply because they do not seem to think this way. One example - Bill Gates could have made sure the Covid vaccine was open source and he could have helped factories around the world tool up to make it, saving potentially millions of lives. But the way he thinks he can’t seem to imagine doing that and instead believes proprietary medicine is somehow the way. Which even if one believed it was in general, I strongly disagree that was the right solution for the acute global tragedy that was the onset of Covid around the world.
gosub100 2y ago
Rich billionaire? As opposed to a poor one?

So, what rich billionaire wants to buy the company, anonymize the data, then release it open-source? Would be a genuine boon to biohackers everywhere, privacy be damned.

rvnx 2y ago

Like the husband of the founder ?

Y_Y 2y ago

Anonymise DNA? With due respect to Poe's law, I spend a lot of talk hearing about how data can be made "anonymous" and somehow you could use it without running into problems with PII. And it's usually wishful or naive. This really takes the cake though. You could certainly aggregate the data in way that preserves some (differential) privacy. But DNA is the the least impersonal data I could imagine.

nukem222 2y ago
> But DNA is the the least impersonal data I could imagine. I imagine there are far more devastating bits of PII to publish than genes, like your porn-watching habits. I don't think this is a strong rhetorical stance to defend genetic data. Contract law is kind of diseased. I don't think it's a good idea to build a society around letting people sign basic protection from corporations away.
- Y_Y 2y ago
  For clarity, I agree completely. I don't think DNA is likely to be damaging of its own accord (unless they find your blood at a crime scene or something). What I'm getting is more that it's very identifying.

SequoiaHope 2y ago

I’m not well versed in issues with genetics to discuss the merits but one thing I will say is that billionaires tend not to do things like this because, I think, in order to become a billionaire you necessarily have to have a view of the world which seems to filter out a desire to give away large amounts of value. There are SO MANY social problems which billionaires are at least financially capable of solving which they do not in fact solve simply because they do not seem to think this way. One example - Bill Gates could have made sure the Covid vaccine was open source and he could have helped factories around the world tool up to make it, saving potentially millions of lives. But the way he thinks he can’t seem to imagine doing that and instead believes proprietary medicine is somehow the way. Which even if one believed it was in general, I strongly disagree that was the right solution for the acute global tragedy that was the onset of Covid around the world.

gosub100 2y ago

Rich billionaire? As opposed to a poor one?