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Independent directors of 23andMe resign from board

investors.23andme.com

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Re: Independent directors of 23andMe resign from board

#221

Post by kelnos »

Spivak wrote: post #118
23B1 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

high time preference thinking

Only gotta last 80 years, it's pretty rational given the constraints. The what-ifs are unlikely to materialize at all, low probability to happen to you, and avoiding them if they do materialize requires that neither you nor any of your relatives submit their dna or have any contact with the justice system ever. DNA is already protected from use by insurance companies so that's a future harm that already got squashed.

Funny you picked 80 years. It's been roughly 80 years since members of a certain ethnic group were hunted down, corralled, and murdered because of their lineage and genetics.

And their murderers mostly only had census data and people willing to snitch on their neighbors to go on. A DNA database? Oof.

Re: Independent directors of 23andMe resign from board

#222

Post by FollowingTheDao »

Simon_ORourke wrote: post #171
bruceb wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Closest competitor does a lot of heavy lifting in this situation. Ancestry is the overwhelming leader in the find long lost relative space/your "roots" space. Look at https://www.ancestry.com/ and https://www.23andme.com/ 23andme has basically given up on this part of the business. Their pitch is health. But that pitch is murky with no good hook to keep you hooked for a monthly subscription. So after they get the ini…

> leader in the find long lost relative space/your "roots" space. Acknowledging Ancestry.com are well ahead of the market here, but I never got their appeal of finding some long-lost second cousins... basically strangers, and saying, "hey, isn't it fascinating that we share some arbitrary level of common genetic makeup". If some randomer reached out via email to me doing this big reveal I'd be "thanks, but into the s…

I not only found a genetic disorder that my mother and I shared (Partial PNP Deficiency) but I also found an woman who was the illegitimate daughter of my Uncle (who had passed away) and she was fianlly able to see pictures of him and know more about him.

There is so much more power in 23andMe's Raw Data regarding health than people realize and I am capitalizing on it. (Less with the v5 chip but it is still really good,)

Finding drugs with 23andMe is a waste of time and is not wehre they should be focusing on making money. They should be focusing on personalized medicine.

Re: Independent directors of 23andMe resign from board

#223

Post by sitharus »

codedokode wrote: post #219
yellowapple wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 23andme has basically given up on this part of the business. The routine emails I get about them allegedly finding new DNA relatives suggest otherwise. The DNA relatives feature is also still pretty prominent in their UI (at least on desktop browsers; haven't looked at the app yet). That said, it certainly doesn't offer much beyond "these are your relatives; send 'em some messages or something lol". Ancestry probab…

I wonder, do the "relatives" know and agree that their information is sent to other person?

…yes that’s how it works? You opt in and choose what you share. They’re quite explicit about it.

Re: Independent directors of 23andMe resign from board

#224

Post by Mtinie »

gerdesj wrote: post #212
appendix-rock wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a very glib HN take. Interest in family trees predates Ancestry.com and will certainly outlast it. It’s not necessarily about contact. I’m not sure what’s controversial here.

I run a small web server for a dataset we call the "BIGFAM" - Geneweb with a proxy on the front. It has >120,000 individuals in it. In places it is not so much a tree as a thicket! That data is hard fought and won by a relative who conducts meticulous research as a hobby. They've been at it for a good 20 odd years now.

How has Geneweb worked for you? Is it straightforward enough to use if you are somewhat technical, or do the “wizards” need to have a solid understanding of OCaml to make it worthwhile?

My daughter has been interested for years in delving into our different familial trees and has extensive records on paper and in various digital formats. She isn’t overly technical but could be taught to use a web interface if she’d gain value from the effort.

Re: Independent directors of 23andMe resign from board

#225

Post by pavel_lishin »

itake wrote: post #134
typeofhuman wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think data-breaches could carry the death penalty for companies. I just got a notification from some health services company that my and my toddlers data was accessed. Including medical history, diagnoses, payment details, SSN, birthday. Why was this not encrypted? Given the world today, this is negligent. The government should be able to disolve the company and give the money to the victims. If there was a willful…

> The government should be able to disolve the company and give the money to the victims I feel you, but my understanding is without clear monetary impact, its hard to collect any amount of money from these companies. Even if you experience identity theft, whose to say this vs one of the other data leaks was the issue.

Yes. That's the current state of things. And we want it to not be the state of things.

Re: Independent directors of 23andMe resign from board

#226

Post by pavel_lishin »

dbspin wrote: post #216
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> data-breaches could carry the death penalty for companies One, corporate death penalties are nonsense. They’re a distraction from fines. Two, what would America pay for its adversaries to enact such a policy. Automatic self destruct for the entire data sector.

I agree that a 'corporate death penalty' would be enormously open to abuse, sector rivals would be even more incentivised to industrial espionage for one thing... But 'a distraction from fines'? Fines do nothing to help those affected by such breaches. Even class action lawsuits usually result in symbolic payouts to individual victims. Given the potential consequences of these breathes - especially in the health spac…

To quote... someone? "A fine is a price."

Re: Independent directors of 23andMe resign from board

#227

Post by JumpCrisscross »

dbspin wrote: post #216
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> data-breaches could carry the death penalty for companies One, corporate death penalties are nonsense. They’re a distraction from fines. Two, what would America pay for its adversaries to enact such a policy. Automatic self destruct for the entire data sector.

I agree that a 'corporate death penalty' would be enormously open to abuse, sector rivals would be even more incentivised to industrial espionage for one thing... But 'a distraction from fines'? Fines do nothing to help those affected by such breaches. Even class action lawsuits usually result in symbolic payouts to individual victims. Given the potential consequences of these breathes - especially in the health spac…

> But 'a distraction from fines'? Fines do nothing to help those affected by such breaches

Bigger fines. Fines that bankrupt the company. Note: bankrupt. Not shut down. Clean out the shareholders and upper management, possibly spin some stuff off or even break it up. (There is this popular conception that bankruptcy means an F-35 bombs the company’s offices and factories and it’s plain wrong.)

Corporate death penalty is a distraction from bigger fines.

Re: Independent directors of 23andMe resign from board

#228

Post by newsclues »

Simon_ORourke wrote: post #171
bruceb wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Closest competitor does a lot of heavy lifting in this situation. Ancestry is the overwhelming leader in the find long lost relative space/your "roots" space. Look at https://www.ancestry.com/ and https://www.23andme.com/ 23andme has basically given up on this part of the business. Their pitch is health. But that pitch is murky with no good hook to keep you hooked for a monthly subscription. So after they get the ini…

> leader in the find long lost relative space/your "roots" space. Acknowledging Ancestry.com are well ahead of the market here, but I never got their appeal of finding some long-lost second cousins... basically strangers, and saying, "hey, isn't it fascinating that we share some arbitrary level of common genetic makeup". If some randomer reached out via email to me doing this big reveal I'd be "thanks, but into the s…

My mom (70year old boom) is obsessed with it.

I think she is unhappy that our family line will likely end with me. (only child, who is almost a 40 year old virgin)

If you don't get to see the future you want, consume your time with the past.

Re: Independent directors of 23andMe resign from board

#229

Post by JCharante »

llm_nerd wrote: post #22
hackernewds wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

why are these companies worth so much, if not for sneakily monetizing and selling their user's most personal data?

The plan was always that DNA could be use for medical research, which is enormously valuable. And given that 23andme currently has a market cap 1/20th DJT (Trump Media & Technology Group Corp) -- a firm that makes less revenue than a variety store yet has huge losses -- I wouldn't really say it's "worth so much".

> The plan was always that DNA could be use for medical research, which is enormously valuable.

Couldn't one just pull a worldcoin and give people $5 for a cheek swab?

Re: Independent directors of 23andMe resign from board

#230

Post by marcinzm »

AlbertCory wrote: post #42
LarsDu88 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the board is resigning, and the company is selling DNA kits, running a telemedicine operation, selling pharmceuticals online AND developing cancer drugs at a 180 million dollar market cap... It's quite possible there was no plan at all...

I saw Ann when she gave a talk at Google (that was when she was still married to Sergey). They had spit cups we could use if we wanted our DNA sequenced. I didn't. Their business plan was straight out of South Park: 1. Collect lots of DNA 2. ?????? 3. Profit!!

Isn't that the case for almost every single VC backed startup?
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