You Were Warned About Those Commercial DNA Kits

I've given my genetic information to companies that have to follow strict privacy rules. I'm talking about HIPPA laws regarding genetic testing for myself and my family members. That said, I've always been leery of 3rd party companies like 23andMe or Ancestry that want my DNA and don't seem beholden to any particular rules about what they do with my information. Seriously, I wrote about it back in 2020. Now, 23andMe is on the brink of bankruptcy and has all that useful genetic data they could sell to survive. I warned ya'll.

Could this information serve great medical purposes? Yes. You could anonymize data and study a bulk of it to see how certain genetic markers can be linked to other ones for health issues. Am I paranoid at the idea that it could be sold to advertising companies or law enforcement? Yes, because a lot of information could be in that genetic code and there is zero responsibility to privacy for 23andMe--once you signed up and spat in a tube for them you signed away your rights.

It sounds like a science-fiction concept, but imagine a company getting your genetic information and putting it in a database. This database finds you have a gene that predisposes you to really liking dark chocolate. The company sells this money to an advertisement agency with a corporation that sells chocolate as a client. One day, they trawl their data and decide to send anyone with the chocolate-loving gene a coupon for a discount on a new line of dark chocolate bars with various fun nut options. That isn't too nefarious, but things could get a lot more twisted and intrusive. 

I could be paranoid, but if I give someone all my genetic code and they don't have any privacy obligation, maybe they don't anonymize data and sell my DNA data if they get into a tight spot. I bet a few decades ago the idea of sending a company your salvia so you could find out if you're 30% Irish or such sounded outlandish, but now here we are. Your genetic code could translate to dollar signs. Be careful who gets your DNA because Lord only knows what will be possible to learn from it in the next couple of years.

DNA Kit Companies Always Worry Me

Hey, you all know that while Medical companies that do things with your DNA have rules about privacy, places such as 23andMe do not? Right? I just ask because those cheap kits then allow them to sell the info about the building blocks of your life to pharmaceutical companies. This isn't a rumor, 23andMe actually brags about it in their stock filings. Robinhood--an app that lets you invest in stocks and has an information news email wrote about how 23andMe is getting such a degree of profit from these revenue streams they could just make the kits free as those things aren't the product, you are the product. Check out this bit from the email:

Anytime a service or item is free it is making money off of you. Facebook of course does that too, but Facebook is just selling access to data about your, "Likes," and how you post a lot about which contestants on, "The Bachelor," are arguably this season's villain (I'm not big on Kelsey or Hannah Ann). I love technology, but I don't like the idea of my genetic information being used by a private company however it likes once I sign-up for, "Free." That leads to the last part of the email:

Call me old-fashioned, but this worries me. I am all for my DNA helping to hopefully research diseases or find a match for bone marrow, but within agreements, I've seen and understand. I don't want my DNA to indicate I possibly like certain types of food and suddenly get targeted ads online saying, "Hey, your genetic profile indicates you'll love our chicken nuggets!" You can't just take a cotton swap with my salvia and sell it off to the highest bidder. Maybe I'm paranoid, but I feel like I've seen enough dystopian sci-fi movies/read enough books to know this ain't a path I want to go down.