this post was submitted on 20 May 2025
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Privacy
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Hindsight is 20/20. ITT lots of folks proud of themselves for not falling into this trap, but try to understand, 23andme was named "invention of the year" by Time in 2008. That's ~~before~~ [edit: around the time] google and facebook had begun monetizing private data. Data privacy, or even the power of data itself, was hardly appreciated by private companies let alone in the public consciousness.
Orphans, people with absent parents, decedents of slaves, the list goes on for folks who would understandably go for an affordable way to access their genetic history. Sure, there were plenty of folks since then who had all the information and still went for it, but what about all those who became aware of it too late and when they requested their data be deleted were told it would be kept for 3 years!
I'm saddened to see more victim blaming here than anger at the ToS/privacy policy fuckery and a complete lack of consumer protection.
perfect, I am now openly pro Trump, Zuckerberg and also Putin, all of whom have been named Time Person of the year from 2007 onwards. This is because I don't even bother to understand what Time nominates, but also entirely willing to base very important political or life decisions around this. If you call this out as being incredibly fucking stupid you are victim blaming me. Just because I do not have ever read the magazines nominations of awards that I base my being around does not mean you can attack me for this.
This is slightly more sympathetic but also 23andme would help you zilch in this scenario because this is not what they do. But I do understand how coming from a vulnerable emotionial position might lead you there.
Having said beforementioned, there is 0 consumer protection that would prevent this scenario. This bullshit has to rank among the largest DNA Databse in the world, and, as such, would be the target and has probably been leaked to every major and minor intelligence service in the world since years, even before they just openly sold it off to god knows who. The crux of data security is that while it is a society wide issue, it is also a personal issue. You can't outregulate some idiot just handing over all their data for funsies or SECURITY to whatever entity, to point out the big ones. This holds true regardless of socioeconomic system in place, because the entire point is that it is your data, not anybody elses.
Also, and I do agree I am malding over this, I want to point out that people have been warning about 23andme for a decade for obvious reasons and largely got ignored as being doomer nerds
If this is considered a problem of individual personnal responsibility then I will trigger stateccollapse because we don't need it if it can't send goon to those duckers and stop the transfer then we don't need those ducking statist vampire to go on living for one more microsecond
fucking go for it, king.
The entire concept of data privacy is antithetical to the modern nation state. Motherfucker you live in the hole. You are in the oubliette. What fucking governmeant bureau, under trump, do you see taking up the fight here, much less winning? You can't unleak data. That shit's out there, forever - and, again, probably has been for years considering what a goldmine the DNA databse of the USA is.
Lobby your state all your want, IT-Security and Data Protection starts at you. All the encryption in the world doesn't save you from being spear-phished. You can encode this in law, but unless anybody starts executing legal entities and building the great firewall á la china, that shit's out there in a real "can't unlick that asshole" situation. It sucks! It is bad! The average person should not have to grapple with the realities of IT-Security and Data Protection much in the same way I don't have the first fucking clue about how to keep an NPP from exploding. But unless we reinvent the whole thing from scratch that shit's on you, me, and everybody else. Never give them anything. I own 18 bicycles.
I am going to laser off the optics from all russian eks early launch warning satellites at the next moment of tension between the empires.