[HN Gopher] Drugmakers Are Set to Pay 23andMe Millions to Access...
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Drugmakers Are Set to Pay 23andMe Millions to Access Consumer DNA
 
Author : htrp
Score  : 34 points
Date   : 2023-10-30 21:59 UTC (1 hours ago)
 
web link (www.bloomberg.com)
w3m dump (www.bloomberg.com)
 
| amacalac wrote:
| Insert  meme here
 
| ddmma wrote:
| Billions at least
 
| daoboy wrote:
| https://archive.ph/CeLJZ
| 
| "Any discoveries GSK makes with the 23andMe data will now be
| solely owned by the British pharmaceutical giant, while the
| genetic-testing company will be eligible for royalties on some
| projects."
 
| 26fingies wrote:
| You know what would be fun? If we could see where all of our
| ancestors were from...
| 
| - Police arrest my cousin for getting a paper cut during a home
| robbery
| 
| - Hackers sell my DNA on the internet
| 
| - Drugmakers make new and exciting opiates that are especially
| addictive for me alone
 
  | Obscurity4340 wrote:
  | I wish more people did this. Examples rule
 
  | fred_is_fred wrote:
  | How difficult would it be with 2023 technology to produce DNA
  | trace evidence for someone else given the sequenced information
  | in these systems? Is there enough information there to do that,
  | and if so, what are the technology hurdles?
 
| karaterobot wrote:
| https://archive.ph/CeLJZ
| 
| After reading the article, it looks to me like giving access to
| this data is _not_ what 's new, it's that the contractual terms
| of the existing agreement have changed. That is, it seems like
| 23AndMe already gives access of some form to pharmaceutical
| research companies.
| 
| Two questions I had:
| 
| * I'm vaguely familiar with the challenges of anonymizing omics
| data, and I'm wondering how they expect to make someone's entire
| genetic profile sufficiently anonymous or deidentified. All I've
| seen from them is one of their example reports, and you could
| take the name off one of those, and it seems like it would still
| be pretty easy to reidentify the subject just from that high
| level report, let alone from the raw data.
| 
| * When they say these are users who have opted in to data
| sharing, I wonder what form that actually takes. Is this one of
| those things where everybody who uses 23AndMe is opting in? Did
| these 14 million users all actually provide informed, active
| consent? I assume that to maximize the value of that data,
| 23AndMe is incentivized to interpret consent as broadly (and
| vaguely) as possible.
 
  | ghayes wrote:
  | My biggest concern is that my siblings and parents have all
  | signed up. So (more or less) my DNA is in this database, even
  | though I have never interacted with the organization.
 
    | jacquesm wrote:
    | Yes, I wrote about that when this all first started
    | happening. Not that anybody cared... it doesn't take a whole
    | lot to be able to identify you given some samples of your
    | extended family. And as a means of elimination it will be
    | extremely effective.
    | 
    | Gattaca is an amazing movie, it has aged so well I find
    | myself having more and more appreciation for the amount of
    | thought that went into the script.
 
| cwales95 wrote:
| This is precisely why I will never use one of these services. The
| thought of a company being able to _buy_ my DNA is beyond creepy.
 
  | tspike wrote:
  | Sadly, if your relatives are anything like mine, they have
  | probably already made the decision for you.
 
| jacquesm wrote:
| Who ever did not see this one coming when 23andMe launched was
| asleep at the switch. DNA databases are ripe for abuse and this
| is just another form of abuse. First they get you to _pay_ to
| give them your samples and then they get paid again to pass your
| data to other parties without obtaining your specific consent for
| that transfer.
| 
| When 23andMe launched I was absolutely amazed at how HN and less
| technical audiences ran with it, the abuse potential - and that's
| before we get into 'hacker lifted your sequences or prints' - was
| blatantly obvious.
 
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(page generated 2023-10-30 23:00 UTC)