23andMe to share customer gene data with GlaxoSmithKline for $300M

Re:23andMe to share customer gene data with GlaxoSmithKline ... by missosoup on Tuesday December 17, 2019 @11:51AM (#21815452)

But wait, it gets better. The data is now permanently out there which means it's only a question of time until it leaks to insurance companies and bad actors, but the data is not only about the individual who submitted their DNA but everyone related to them.

I'm sure GP's children will love them for selling out their data to future employers and insurers.

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Re:23andMe to share customer gene data with GlaxoSmithKline ... by chr1 on Tuesday December 17, 2019 @12:45PM (#21816225)

This would be a concern if DNA was something secret like a password, but it isn't, it falls off you all the time in the form of hair and skin cells, so if there was something valuable in your DNA, your employers could get it easily anyway. And if your DNA was useful to insurers you would pay yourself for them to get it, because knowing that your risk of dying from certain disease is higher is also required for preventing that.

In general trying to keep DNA secret to prevent discrimination is a losing game, a better strategy is preventing discrimination itself, which we already have to do for DNA variations that have visible manifestation. Moreover if the number of people who need protection from discrimination increases, we'll get better at preventing it, which would be useful for the people who are being discriminated now.

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Re:23andMe to share customer gene data with GlaxoSmithKline ... by Faark on Tuesday December 17, 2019 @04:42PM (#21819206)

> your employers could get it easily anyway

I really hope that would be illegal here in the EU. It being physically possible (or even easy) doesn't make it okay. Not having the dataset easily available is one safety layer to prevent discrimination. No, it sadly doesn't help in all cases. Its unlikely there will ever be something that can, unless maybe you believe in perfectly implemented government policy reeducating us or controlling our behavior.

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Re:23andMe to share customer gene data with GlaxoSmithKline ... by shadowgovt on Tuesday December 17, 2019 @12:56PM (#21816378)

I'm curious what "bad actors" you imagine with a DNA dataset. Targeted viral agents to hunt and kill only shadowgovt's? If someone wanted to do that, raiding my trash for a half-eaten sandwich is a lot easier way to get the data they want then hoping I upload it to 23andme.

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Re:23andMe to share customer gene data with GlaxoSmithKline ... by vengefulduck on Tuesday December 17, 2019 @02:42PM (#21817818)

I think they were probably referring to the more mundane use of insurance companies buying the data and raising premiums for people with genetic risk factors. Which IMO seems very plausible.

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Re:23andMe to share customer gene data with GlaxoSmithKline ... by shadowgovt on Tuesday December 17, 2019 @03:00PM (#21818067)

It's not impossible, but if it happens, it'll be a hell of a lawsuit. That scenario is specifically carved out as unacceptable in US law.

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Re:23andMe to share customer gene data with GlaxoSmithKline ... by LunaSea on Wednesday December 18, 2019 @09:18AM (#21825047)

And we know that no law going against the citizen's own interests ever passed.

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Re:23andMe to share customer gene data with GlaxoSmithKline ... by shadowgovt on Wednesday December 18, 2019 @10:04AM (#21825525)

Absolutism doesn't really help in crafting good policy. The threat that bad things could possibly, maybe happen isn't a good reason to stop chasing disease cures.

If we knew the ways vaccination programs would be abused, should we have refrained from inoculating so much of the world against polio?

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Re:23andMe to share customer gene data with GlaxoSmithKline ... by LunaSea on Wednesday December 18, 2019 @12:00PM (#21826838)

It absolutely is and it's also the reason the FDA has a process you have to follow before doing human testing before potentially killing people with a new treatment you're trying to develop.

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Re:23andMe to share customer gene data with GlaxoSmithKline ... by shadowgovt on Wednesday December 18, 2019 @01:39PM (#21827818)

Yes, exactly. There's a process to follow to minimize risk in human testing. Human testing isn't categorically banned.

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Re:23andMe to share customer gene data with GlaxoSmithKline ... by LunaSea on Wednesday December 18, 2019 @02:23PM (#21828300)

Correct, because we thought about the cost and risk of early human trials. Which isn't the case here. You're happy to forego any protection of the people involved.

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Re:23andMe to share customer gene data with GlaxoSmithKline ... by shadowgovt on Wednesday December 18, 2019 @04:45PM (#21829795)

I think the case is that people have put quite a bit of thought into costs and risks of big-data aggregation of DNA and come to different conclusions on what risks are realistic and what the consequences of those risks are.

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Re:23andMe to share customer gene data with GlaxoSmithKline ... by LunaSea on Wednesday December 18, 2019 @06:10PM (#21830437)

They clearly haven't since they didn't even bother asking their users.

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Re:23andMe to share customer gene data with GlaxoSmithKline ... by shadowgovt on Wednesday December 18, 2019 @06:21PM (#21830522)

It would be hard for them to be more clear about it.

https://www.23andme.com/about/consent/

"Which of my personal information is used for research?"

"Your genetic data and any other personal information you enter into the website, except for your Registration Information (name, contact information, and credit card information), may be analyzed in the research."

It really seems people are complaining because 23andme didn't demand they sign a consent for something they had already explicitly signed a consent to. I, for one, assumed large third-party pharmaceutical companies would have access to the data when I volunteered it. Is there significant risk people misunderstood that? How?

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Re:23andMe to share customer gene data with GlaxoSmithKline ... by pdkl95 on Tuesday December 17, 2019 @07:44PM (#21820699)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKQDSgBHPfY

DEF CON 25 - John Sotos

"Genetic Diseases to Guide Digital Hacks of the Human Genome"

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