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23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

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Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#241

Post by 2muchcoffeeman »

bobthepanda wrote: post #82
jsgo wrote: post #79

> Wojcicki has theories Think the obvious one is that the results are shared and whether someone is a criminal or not (or will be one in the future), people are not particularly comfortable with sharing to parties they didn't initially trust it to for the purposes they trusted it for. Anecdotally, I bought a 23andme kit (just the genealogy one) but never submitted it because the labeling was to send it to the lab in…

Honestly, I would also say that a partial reason why these would've dropped is that everyone who can do it has done it. You only need these kinds of results once because your DNA doesn't change. I knew people who were giving or had gotten these as gifts, but those are one-off purchases. And if you've heard of people doing it then you'll do it too but that's also a one-off. I don't think I'd personally benefit because…

This sort of thing really makes me wonder whether execs thought about this scenario or not. It seems obvious to me that the novelty could wear off and people stop buying kits. Was it worth the effort and cost to ramp up staffing only to make them redundant?

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#242

Post by JohnFen »

hi41 wrote: post #217
fetus8 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, there's the fact that companies like this also provide your data to DNA databases that governments and other companies have access too. That seems like a good reason to shy away from getting their tests done.

I sent a saliva swab and got my dna analyzed by 23andme. I got back information I already knew such as where I came from etc. Serious question. IF the government catches a relative of mine who is a rapist or a murderer from my dna, I don’t see anything wrong with it. Could someone please explain what could go wrong. Keeping our community from heinous criminals is a good thing isn’t?

> Keeping our community from heinous criminals is a good thing isn’t?

Yes, but there certainly is a cost to doing that, and at some point the cost outweighs the benefits. If that weren't true, then the argument could be used to insist that every place, including every room in your home, should be subjected to government surveillance 24 hours a day.

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#243

Post by duderific »

igetspam wrote: post #57
theflyinghorse wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People working in tech not in the bay aren't second tier. Are we though? If we were to establish criteria by which to judge tiers how would anywhere else in the world compare to the Bay? My intuition is that the Bay is probably more productive and gets paid far more for it. The bay certainly drives just about about every tech trend worth a note. Innovation as well how much tech came out out of that region. Disclaim…

30 year bay area veteran here. There is nothing special about the bay area that isn't geography. The density of workers means you meet a ton of talentless people who shuffle along with the crowd and are rewarded for it because it's unnoticed. I'm paid more to be remote than I was in the bay area and my money goes a lot further. I'm also exponentially more productive not being in a sardine can office. Your intuition i…

The companies that were founded here (Apple, HP, Google etc.) have drawn talent for many years. Additionally, there are some top notch universities with great CS departments (Stanford, Cal among others). So it's not just geography.

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#244

Post by [deleted] »

untog wrote: post #181
ab_testing wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your kids were born in the United States,the states already has their genetic information. https://www.babysfirsttest.org/newborn-screening/states

That page doesn't say they store it? In any case, the government having this data and a private, for profit company having this data feels like two quite different things.

[deleted]

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#245

Post by cubano »

JohnFen wrote: post #228
brigandish wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which form of abstract grouping of people is the most trustworthy?

The group that you have some sort of actual say in how they operate. That usually means the government, not a private business.

I would say that statistically, over a large sample size, that the chances that either would abuse information is exactly equal.

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#246

Post by blisterpeanuts »

The ultimate solution to privacy concerns is home sequencing machines. When we can sequence our own DNA, we can upload it anonymously and get many of the benefits. The one thing that wouldn't work is finding lost relatives by name. Maybe general location, though.

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#247

Post by exolymph »

munk-a wrote: post #227
scarmig wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the government encounters one of their kid's DNA, that's enough to identify them as a son/daughter of the person with that DNA profile. If a medical insurance company purchases their DNA, analyzes it, and anticipates that a child of theirs is likely to have medical costs 5x the average, those costs will be passed on to those kids, absent legislation to the contrary. This applies to everyone you're related to, as w…

> If the government encounters one of their kid's DNA, that's enough to identify them as a son/daughter of the person with that DNA profile. I don't believe that's ever been tested in court (so there isn't precedence) and the ways in which DNA are complex enough - and the mutation rate is high enough - that it might be like fingerprints... if you're the only person with DNA that might be like the kind found and you'v…

Dude, what? The whole reason why DNA is forensically useful at all is that you can use it to pinpoint people.

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#248

Post by jellicle »

jedberg wrote: post #164
0xCMP wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IIRC you can request the data to be deleted. You have no way of knowing if it's been done correctly, but at least it's something you could do to prevent your kid's DNA from effectively being there.

I seem to remember reading that even when they delete your data, they keep your sample. So really all it does is prevent you from getting it.

After account closure:

"23andMe and our third party genotyping laboratory will retain your genetic information, date of birth, and sex as required for compliance with applicable legal obligations, including the U.S. Federal Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA), California Business and Professional Code Section 1265, and College of American Pathologists (CAP) accreditation requirements.

23andMe will retain limited information related to your data deletion request, such as your email address and Account Deletion Request Identifier, as necessary to fulfill your request and for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims."

So they'll retain your DNA info and personally identifying info that you provided, forever. But the physical sample will be destroyed.

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#249

Post by drcode »

heavyset_go wrote: post #236
jsgo wrote: post #79

> Wojcicki has theories Think the obvious one is that the results are shared and whether someone is a criminal or not (or will be one in the future), people are not particularly comfortable with sharing to parties they didn't initially trust it to for the purposes they trusted it for. Anecdotally, I bought a 23andme kit (just the genealogy one) but never submitted it because the labeling was to send it to the lab in…

> Well, I don't think I have any pre-existing conditions and certainly don't do drugs, but I don't know about any unknowns on the health side that could impact my insurance if they were to share it to the company. Forget that. In the US, only health insurance companies are not allowed to use genetic data to increase premiums or deny coverage, at least for now. I'm not sure what the rules are about using data derived…

The problem is that... people/companies sometimes do things even if they are illegal.
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