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Breach exposed more than one million DNA profiles on a major genealogy database

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Re: Breach exposed more than one million DNA profiles on a major genealogy database

#251
post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't consider DNA to be secret information. Given that you leave them every where you go.

There is a world of difference between 1. Having your DNA already in the database 2. Your DNA being out somewhere on the street where it could only be linked to you by name through a targeted reconnaissance effort

By targeted reconnaissance effort do you mean trivial geographic correlation based on your phones location data. So if the Google Street View car had a DNA sequencer on the back and GPS recorded any fragments and location it could trivially reconstruct quite a bit. No one has done this yet, but it's utterly doable. DNA is not private information its the most public information you can imagine is not controllable in any way thats meaningful to traditional thoughts on data privacy.

Re: Breach exposed more than one million DNA profiles on a major genealogy database

#252
I consider myself a fairly optimistic person. Yet here we are deeply immersed in a world of technology that trades privacy for conveniences (that we did fine without before) and week after week these mega data stores are compromised and we just move on. The optimist in me hopes its merely incompetence and greed, but then it seems almost programmatic.

Re: Breach exposed more than one million DNA profiles on a major genealogy database

#253
post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking of misleading cybersecurity language, note how you used the term "nation-state", which is a word that indicates a specific subset of countries and is not just a fancy synonym for "country".

That's an existing problem that hasn't been solved in geopolitical meatspace. I don't expect it to be solved in cybersecurity first. That said, for my understanding: which political bodies are countries but not nation-states? Is this a reference to places like Singapore and the Vatican, which are probably more accurately labeled city-states?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multinational_state

> Present-day examples of multinational states are Afghanistan, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Montenegro, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States.

Re: Breach exposed more than one million DNA profiles on a major genealogy database

#254
post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't consider DNA to be secret information. Given that you leave them every where you go.

There is a world of difference between 1. Having your DNA already in the database 2. Your DNA being out somewhere on the street where it could only be linked to you by name through a targeted reconnaissance effort

I think this is somewhat analogous to the privacy issues around Google Street View. Almost nobody thought the image of the front of their house was really private, but the idea of it being catalogued and searchable bothered more than a few. Removing the barrier of someone having to physically do the work to get that information at least made them feel more vulnerable.

Has Street View been a problem for the world in that way? I haven't personally experienced that. That's probably why the DNA database idea doesn't scare me. If you want to live in the world it's essentially impossible to keep your DNA a secret. It seems to me that eventually someone will pick it all up and organize it.

Re: Breach exposed more than one million DNA profiles on a major genealogy database

#255
post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a world of difference between 1. Having your DNA already in the database 2. Your DNA being out somewhere on the street where it could only be linked to you by name through a targeted reconnaissance effort

By targeted reconnaissance effort do you mean trivial geographic correlation based on your phones location data. So if the Google Street View car had a DNA sequencer on the back and GPS recorded any fragments and location it could trivially reconstruct quite a bit. No one has done this yet, but it's utterly doable. DNA is not private information its the most public information you can imagine is not controllable in a…

If an action requires less investment and provides the same value, it will happen more frequently — economics. A database lookup requires less investment than a targeted DNA harvesting, sequencing, and location correlation operation.

Re: Breach exposed more than one million DNA profiles on a major genealogy database

#256

Is there any way to get my DNA analysed anonymously? Like, with just a throwaway email and payment via some service that anonymises?

At least it was possible for one person to send two identical samples under two different names a few years ago to one company, but if everyone has closed that loophole yet - I don't know.

Alternatively (a business idea for someone here who has already registered?) you could send in other peoples samples in tour name and then request deletion via GDPR or something. Do things that do not scale and all that ;-)

Re: Breach exposed more than one million DNA profiles on a major genealogy database

#257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I think it's a sad commentary on human nature that the Christian sects that don't believe anyone goes to hell at all are even more fringe and taken less seriously than Mormons. One reason they might not be taken seriously is that in the Bible Jesus directly talks about people being in Hell.

I don't think that is true, see for example: https://www.npr.org/2020/03/31/824479587/heaven-and-hell-are...

>Bart Ehrman says the ideas of eternal rewards and punishments aren't found in the Old Testament or in the teachings of Jesus.

What about Matthew 25:46?

> Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.

That article seems to assert that Jesus taught the soul cannot live apart from the body. There are various other quotes from Jesus contradicting that. John 14:1-3:

> Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

John 18:36:

> Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place."

Luke 23:43:

> Jesus answered him, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise."

Re: Breach exposed more than one million DNA profiles on a major genealogy database

#258
post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a world of difference between 1. Having your DNA already in the database 2. Your DNA being out somewhere on the street where it could only be linked to you by name through a targeted reconnaissance effort

By targeted reconnaissance effort do you mean trivial geographic correlation based on your phones location data. So if the Google Street View car had a DNA sequencer on the back and GPS recorded any fragments and location it could trivially reconstruct quite a bit. No one has done this yet, but it's utterly doable. DNA is not private information its the most public information you can imagine is not controllable in a…

So because it is supposed to be trivial to identify people based on GPS, phone and DNA (which I dont believe), it doesn't matter if one gets his data into a DB, which gets leaked to the internet and then can be found/used by anyone? I don't think I follow u our reasoning. I'll also state that DNA is hardly the most public information there is, surely your face/skin color/size/other physical characteristics are more public?

Re: Breach exposed more than one million DNA profiles on a major genealogy database

#259
post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a world of difference between 1. Having your DNA already in the database 2. Your DNA being out somewhere on the street where it could only be linked to you by name through a targeted reconnaissance effort

By targeted reconnaissance effort do you mean trivial geographic correlation based on your phones location data. So if the Google Street View car had a DNA sequencer on the back and GPS recorded any fragments and location it could trivially reconstruct quite a bit. No one has done this yet, but it's utterly doable. DNA is not private information its the most public information you can imagine is not controllable in a…

[deleted]

Re: Breach exposed more than one million DNA profiles on a major genealogy database

#260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I think it's a sad commentary on human nature that the Christian sects that don't believe anyone goes to hell at all are even more fringe and taken less seriously than Mormons. One reason they might not be taken seriously is that in the Bible Jesus directly talks about people being in Hell.

>the Bible Jesus directly talks about people being in Hell. Jesus talked about people being in Gehenna (burning trash dump outside Jerusalem), Hades (Limbo or Paradise, Sheol in Hebrew) and I think Tartarus (deep pit). Tartarus may be OT only, I can't recall ATM. All those terms, each with it's own intent and meaning, were later rolled into Hell (which received a new meaning, one different from any of the original te…

I don't really think the name matters; Jesus wasn't speaking English. It's the concept that matters. I think Matthew 25:46 covers the concept well:

> Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.

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