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23andMe confirms hackers stole ancestry data on 6.9M users

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Re: 23andMe confirms hackers stole ancestry data on 6.9M users

#281

Post by dekhn »

me_me_me wrote: post #130
bartwr wrote: post #112

Something super creepy that happened to me recently: a hospital where I've been to a few months ago called me and asked me to participate in some DNA analysis program. They said "oh and the best part? You don't need to do anything! We will use blood samples we collected the last time." I obviously declined, but it was a huge wtf to me - they stored biological samples associated with me without informing me and can do…

Well they did call you and tried to trick you into letting them use it. But assuming they obey the law they did not used your samples. So there are privacy laws in place? Also they could have been cleaning old results/samples and this was one step.

Calling to get more consent for something that was already under consent is not a trick and it's not against the law for them to use the samples.

THere isn't anything nefarious going on here. Just scientific research with medical data.

Re: 23andMe confirms hackers stole ancestry data on 6.9M users

#282

Post by greedo »

jstarfish wrote: post #278
fragmede wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"not exactly difficult"... I'm not Jewish, but I feel like there's some sort of reason for them not wanting a list of who they and where they live to exist.

[flagged]

Yes, because pogroms have solely been targeted against practicing Jews.

There are a ton of Jews who don't follow kosher law, who aren't particularly religious, etc etc. Yet they would be targeted by anti-semites.

Re: 23andMe confirms hackers stole ancestry data on 6.9M users

#283

Post by dekhn »

mrtksn wrote: post #51
clarionbell wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Find a private lab to do the test. It may be a bit more involved, and cost more money, but not by that much.

Do private labs have methods to provide similar information to 23andMe?

The labs don't, but you could upload it to promethease. But they play a role similar to 23andMe so likely it wouldn't address your concerns.

Re: 23andMe confirms hackers stole ancestry data on 6.9M users

#284

Post by spacebacon »

concordDance wrote: post #111
spacebacon wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keep downvoting yourself into the deepest hole you can imagine Google.

Personally in downvoting because your posts seem irrelevant or incoherent and I want to discourage that sort of thing on hackernews. Though in your particular case I strongly suspect you're having a psychotic break and need immediate medical help.

Cool story. Care to administer a psychological evaluation in person? If spell checked typed words are a measure of psychology you just failed. I’m not “in” wise guy.

Re: 23andMe confirms hackers stole ancestry data on 6.9M users

#285

Post by kjkjadksj »

Buttons840 wrote: post #276
cj wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the more common one I've heard is "Why do you care about privacy if you have nothing to hide?" In the case of 23andme, it's a perfect answer: We don't know what's hiding in our DNA and I don't know how people will use that against me in the future.

Imagine a correlation study between genes and worker productivity, it'd be an interesting study if done correctly, but it might not be done correctly (and to be clear, I don't think it should be done at all). Now imagine you have genes that have a negative correlation with productivity which makes it hard for you to find work.

Its illegal to discriminate on terms like this though. Replace the word gene with demography and you can see why.

Re: 23andMe confirms hackers stole ancestry data on 6.9M users

#286

Post by kjkjadksj »

pc86 wrote: post #173
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, the reason for privacy is because the profit motive of capitalism is not sufficiently restrained as to protect citizens from being abused by corporations?

Be careful you don't break something with those gymnastics. The immediate concern I had with this story is nefarious groups or individuals purchasing this data to target people with violence based on their ethnicities. Imagine if the genome of millions of Europeans was available on the black market in 1930s Europe.

If a group wanted to do that why bother with the dna data? Easier to just perform the violence. Even in 1930s europe I’d bet the SS would not really be concerned with whatever your dna data said if they really wanted you or your people gone, you’d just be labeled an enemy and sent off same as a jew or a gypsy or a communist.

Re: 23andMe confirms hackers stole ancestry data on 6.9M users

#287

Post by kjkjadksj »

zlg_codes wrote: post #264
kzrdude wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sweden has a registry of blood samples of every person born in sweden since 1975: https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/PKU-registret (Swedish only wiki page) Predictably?, amusingly? police never had access to this data, until a government minister was murdered in 2003, when a sample from the suspect was retrieved. From what we know it has not been used since. So we can be cynical, but under the circumstances, the police us…

Boy, that "yet" reaaaally makes me feel comfortable trusting government with information it can use to kill entire families.

If the government wanted you gone there wouldn’t be this song and dance about getting dna data from a blood bank. They’d just kill you and that would be that.

Re: 23andMe confirms hackers stole ancestry data on 6.9M users

#288

Post by kjkjadksj »

m_eiman wrote: post #161
dfxm12 wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look at what they did without it. Godwin's Law aside, the point is, if a sufficiently powerful group is set on doing something, they'll do it. Such a group won't let "facts" or "accuracy" get in the way. Look at McCarthyism.

People bent on doing evil things are going to do evil things, but perhaps it's a good idea to not build systems that will let their evil be faster and more efficient.

I have yet to see how this allows them to move faster and be more efficient. People have this fear of some orwellian government killing or imprisoning with little regard for ethics or due process except they will stop all of that for careful analysis of DNA. Seems bizarre to me. Either you are getting screwed or you aren’t but this stuff makes no screwing possible that wasn’t already.

Re: 23andMe confirms hackers stole ancestry data on 6.9M users

#289

Post by [deleted] »

kzrdude wrote: post #222
ribosometronome wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That Nazis could use something for truly evil purposes is hardly limited to this but, I think, the concern is. You can imagine nazis transporting Holocaust victims and soldiers by rail, because they did, but I’ve never heard anyone argue against adding more rail infrastructure because if Nazis take over they could use the rail infrastructure to enable genocide.

Both railways and population registries were blown up by anti-nazi sabotage and resistance groups during WWII. So place your data like your railways, where you can blow em up when circumstances necessitate it.

[deleted]

Re: 23andMe confirms hackers stole ancestry data on 6.9M users

#290

Post by wimp »

gcanyon wrote: post #105

Does anyone think privacy of any real sort is maintainable going forward? Machine learning algorithms are learning to identify people just by their walk -- no face recognition required. Algorithms are moving toward being able to decipher text just by the audio of the keyboard being typed on. In short, given a gestalt of ALL public data and sufficiently advanced algorithms is there really a way for people to maintain…

Privacy is a policy issue, not a technical issue. We need to focus on advocating for more useful and effective privacy protections as citizens, instead of focusing on technical evasion strategies. Because as you're pointing out, that is a losing strategy in the long run.
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