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23andMe files for bankruptcy to sell itself

reuters.com

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Re: 23andMe files for bankruptcy to sell itself

#241

Post by jart »

2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #216
sandos wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why was this downvoted? Your close family also shares your DNA, to 100%! Suppose your parents both test.. Your DNA is not something that you can 100% keep from others.

I think because it was unnecessarily conspiratorial. I can’t just sequence DNA can you? Do you think government agencies are collecting your tissues?

It's not a conspiracy. That's what we call a startup. You've never heard of airborne dna data collection? Go cry into your pillow :)

Reality is always so much more extreme than the conspiracies. Conspiracy theorists lack the minds to imagine half this stuff.

Re: 23andMe files for bankruptcy to sell itself

#242

Post by ceejayoz »

kimos wrote: post #223
Spacecosmonaut wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a genetic engineer at a large pharma company. Genetic engineering of human model systems is my specialty. If I were a malicious actor, I could not do anything useful with the genome of any one person. Most peoples genomes are boring and at best sway the predisposition for disease by a modest degree. Exposing infidelity is honestly the best I can come up with.

Thank you for saying this. I’ve done some of these saliva samples and I’ve seen the freak outs about what happens if “they” get my genome. But I cannot for the life of me figure out what they would do with it maliciously? It’s not like it can be used to sign up for a credit card or whatever.

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act gets repealed. Insurers immediately buy their database and drop you because you’re statistically more likely to get an illness.

Re: 23andMe files for bankruptcy to sell itself

#243

Post by vintermann »

midtake wrote: post #107
ks2048 wrote: post #35

There are troubling privacy issues, but it was able to tell me: "Toe Length Ratio : Likely second toe longer". I didn't even have to look down! Maybe it was a bad idea. But, I figured if we enter a dystopian future, evil health care companies or governments could easily get my DNA if they want to and/or simply require that information to get care. When you get blood drawn, do you see what they do with it? Hopefully,…

> But, I figured if we enter a dystopian future, evil health care companies or governments could easily get my DNA if they want to and/or simply require that information to get care. Yes, because you gave it to them. Nihilism undermines any sort of resistance movement against evil.

I think it's a mistake to think that the tyrannical governments of the future will be sophisticated. The way the trend is going, they will be ever more banal. They're not going to target a virus for you, they're going to knock down your door, shout at you, lock you up or shoot you. They likely won't even bother with having chatgpt write up a pretext for it.

That doesn't mean we can do nothing, but it means withholding information won't matter as much as some people think.

Re: 23andMe files for bankruptcy to sell itself

#244

Post by ceejayoz »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #222
KineticLensman wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or health insurers looking for markers of disease / chronic illness

In the US, they wouldn’t be allowed to use that data to underwrite policies: https://www.healthcare.gov/how-plans-set-your-premiums/

That can easily change, though.

Re: 23andMe files for bankruptcy to sell itself

#245

Post by Spacecosmonaut »

1dom wrote: post #210
Spacecosmonaut wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the vast majority of people lifestyle is much more deterministic than genetics. There are a few exceptions causing relatively deterministic adult onset diseases: Huntington, APOA4 homozygosity, FAP, BRACA mutants. These are rare however.

> For the vast majority of people lifestyle is much more deterministic than genetics. How much of lifestyle do you think is determined by genetics, if any, and how much of that link do we currently understand? I feel the concern around genetic data privacy has normally been the risk of unknown future stuff, rather than any current known vectors. I'm not saying it's a legitimate fear, but I don't know if it's one that…

The impact of lifestyle is undeniable and large. Good genes will not protect your body from alcoholism. And if I were a betting man, I would bet against determinism emerging from a better understanding of combinatorial genetics.

I do think over time we will get a clearer picture of risk predisposition based on your entire genetic profile. However, I believe that genetic predisposion will remain a relatively small contributor for most disease states.

Re: 23andMe files for bankruptcy to sell itself

#246

Post by windward »

1oooqooq wrote: post #154
Dibby053 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like fingerprint fingerprinting?

no. fingerprinting is like denying a kid at a carnival ride with a height check. what this thread is about is denying a kid a kindergarten spot because the dna shows their height will never get them a basketball college scholarship.

I'm very glad this wasn't productised before my in-laws were my in-laws

Re: 23andMe files for bankruptcy to sell itself

#247

Post by johnnyanmac »

CharlieDigital wrote: post #237
Spacecosmonaut wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a genetic engineer at a large pharma company. Genetic engineering of human model systems is my specialty. If I were a malicious actor, I could not do anything useful with the genome of any one person. Most peoples genomes are boring and at best sway the predisposition for disease by a modest degree. Exposing infidelity is honestly the best I can come up with.

The problem is you are not a malicious actor so you aren't coming up with good scams or truly malicious ideas. How about scam emails that open by asking people about their family history of some disease with a genetic marker and promising some miracle treatment? I can think of even worse outcomes depending on how policy on immigration and naturalization shifts

scam emails are pennies on a dollar, though. it's so easy to just go through any email list ever and blast out thousands at once. It's not really a business that cares about targeted approaches.

>depending on how policy on immigration and naturalization shifts

Birthright citizenship invalidates such profling, but even then: I don't think the government needs DNA to figure out identities of people in the database.

Re: 23andMe files for bankruptcy to sell itself

#248

Post by johnnyanmac »

antegamisou wrote: post #227
Spacecosmonaut wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a genetic engineer at a large pharma company. Genetic engineering of human model systems is my specialty. If I were a malicious actor, I could not do anything useful with the genome of any one person. Most peoples genomes are boring and at best sway the predisposition for disease by a modest degree. Exposing infidelity is honestly the best I can come up with.

You are not speaking from a position of a grifter though. I don't think it's a stretch that some YC funded startup could emerge and claim that they can map and predict everyone's entire actions/personalities/characteristics through their genome, heavily misinterpreting PGS/GWAS. I don't think they would care much for scientific validity in this case. It won't matter to them if the methods used are reliable. All they'…

>It won't matter to them if the methods used are reliable.

the method of being a fortune-teller? I don't see how that would ever be reliable unless we figure out voodoo kinds of tricks attacking the nervous system.

Re: 23andMe files for bankruptcy to sell itself

#249

Post by johnnyanmac »

MrMcCall wrote: post #169
__alexs wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your genome can be scavenged from the air. It is not information we are capable of keeping private.

But can it be isolated from the myriad of life floating around? I doubt that specificity would be economically profitable. The police did catch the Golden State Killer by scavenging a used coffee cup or somesuch, however.

>I doubt that specificity would be economically profitable.

It's be much easiser to setup a DNA catfish from a Tinder date if someone is that determined to get a decent sample from you. If it's not targeted, a door-to-door salesman can collect dozens over a day for use.

There's so many social engineering tricks to take advanadge of that you'd paralyze yourself trying to keep your DNA to yourself. Better to just petition for regulation at that point.

Re: 23andMe files for bankruptcy to sell itself

#250

Post by vintermann »

fc417fc802 wrote: post #105
davely wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just commented about the same exact thing relating to my wife. Even down to 20+ siblings! Like, it’s so common that I’m not even shocked to hear others with this experience. As it turns out, there were a lot of sketchy clinics preying upon desperate parents in the early 1980s.

Why do you say they were preying on them? The donor either matched the stated criteria or didn't.

There is no honour among eugenicists. There's even an own Wikipedia page for fertility doctors who used their own sperm - with a long list of cases.
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