- cross-posted to:
- hackernews@derp.foo
- cross-posted to:
- hackernews@derp.foo
Drugmakers Are Set to Pay 23andMe Millions to Access Consumer DNA::GSK will pay the DNA testing company $20 million for non-exclusive access to genetic data.
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The real dystopian horror is when these genetics companies start selling to insurance companies. Think about it:
“I’m sorry we aren’t covering this cancer claim with our health insurance product because you are genetically predisposed to it”
We need legislation now to prevent genetic discrimination.
For more information please refer to the 1997 documentary ‘Gattaca’
Society is really doing its darndest to turn all the dystopian cyberpunk worlds into reality huh
We do have legislation to protect genetic information, what we need is to prevent the gathering and distribution of this information in the first place because those laws go away the second someone is positioned to make a shit ton of money from it.
We need a lot of things.
Spoiler: We’re not getting them because too many politicians are bought and paid for.
Although I wonder if HIPAA would need to get involved in places like the US if that happens. If that data is used to diagnose, then it falls under HIPAA.
If they do that, there will definitely be giant legal battles. I wonder if that is a legal risk they’d want to take on.
I dunno. That’s all super expected.
To me the dystopian part is millions of people with no personality needing to send spit to a black box private company so they can get a letter back telling them how special they are.
It’s almost like we all saw this coming when these services started taking off. I’ll never put myself into one, and at least from my best knowledge none of my close family has either
Well if it helps accelerate the development of life saving medications I suppose it’s the least offensive use of that data.
Much preferred over say insurance companies using it or hostile governments lmao
if it helps accelerate the development of life saving medications
LMAO
Goldman Sachs: “Is curing patients a sustainable business model?”
Not if Wall Street has anything to do with it!
If you can keep someone from dying by being dependent on only your medication, you’ve created a customer for life rather than one who died and didn’t give you all their money to live another day.
We all know it won’t stop there. Once they have it they’re going to make as much money off of it as possible.
I’m pretty sure insurance companies already have some kind of access to this stuff, despite saying they don’t.
Are set to ? I thought it was their business model.
Customers are only to blame for sharing giving such data to business that only exist to make money. I have never used these services for the same reason and I will never use them. I don’t trust what they will do with this data if not now, then down the line.
I understand your sentiment, and I do agree that costumers gotta be more aware about what they’re getting into.
With that said, consumers can’t be blamed for legislative failures. That’s what this is, at its core.
When people signed up to Facebook, they just wanted to keep in touch with their friends. When people signed up for Instagram, they just wanted to share pictures. They didn’t want to be endlessly exploited.
And let’s be real, no one is sifting through these privacy policies and ToS that are designed to be impossible to understand.
Same thing here. People just wanna understand their genealogy. Wanting to know your ancestry, shouldn’t come at the expense of incredibly privacy-invading practices.
Why is it that we as consumers need to share to these horrendous business practices if we wanna know our ancestry? Why are there no protections in place? Is it realistic/reasonable to have to read all this incomprehensible language?
Who knew giving away YOUR FUCKING DNA to some company was not a good idea
Me 10 years ago, apparently.
I’m always so glad to never have used that service.
People paid 23andMe to give them the data in the first place. Should be illegal to profit off of other people’s data if they’re not getting paid for it.
Shocking, company not caring about their customers.
who’s not caring? They ask for consent
23andMe will provide GSK with one year of access to anonymized DNA data from the approximately 80% of gene-testing customers who have agreed to share their information for research
I see no problem with that. Idk what’s newsworthy here tbh.
The problem is that just because you are ok with sharing your data (even if you don’t understand the potential consequences), your close family and any decendants aren’t able to consent or not consent to their shared genetic data being given to these corporations.
How would you feel about your children being unable to get insurance coverage because a close relative used the service and the insurance company decided they were at too high risk for expensive medical problems due to similarity of genes?
How would you feel about your children being unable to get insurance coverage because a close relative used the service and the insurance company decided they were at too high risk for expensive medical problems due to similarity of genes?
To be clear, this is a made-up scenario that would be illegal under current US law.
Companies break laws all the time. The punishment is frequently small compared to profits from the crime.
Vague nihilism doesn’t dispute what I said
The law here is inconsequential. The only protection that is certain is for the data not to exist.
The law here is inconsequential
It’s very much not.
Yes. The issue you pointed to is being investigated after all. And there are potential damages if they are found to be violating the law.
Did it potentially being illegal actually stop it from happening?
Not the onion. Wow.
I figured one of two things, if not both, would certainly happen with these services. 1. They were going to figure out a way to monetize the information received and/or 2. All the information would be leaked or hijacked. As soon as these services started popping up I told everyone in my family not to trust them. So far, none of us have fallen for the scam. That I am aware of.
Non pay-walled version: https://archive.ph/gz2dM
