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A comment on 23andMe to share customer gene data with GlaxoSmithKline for $300M. Parent comment

Re:23andMe to share customer gene data with GlaxoSmithKline ... by missosoup on Tuesday December 17, 2019 @06:46PM (#21820304)
It's illegal to follow someone around to collect their location data. It's a pretty good analogy.

Just because there is 'trivial' access to certain attributes of people doesn't mean that it's legal to capture those attributes, and even if you do capture them, they're worthless on the legal market. E.g. see SF ban on facial recognition.

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Re:23andMe to share customer gene data with GlaxoSmithKline ... by streb-lo on Wednesday December 18, 2019 @12:49AM (#21822206)
Like you say, legal barriers can only prevent things that rely on a legal market, like insurance carriers from discriminating against people's genetic makeup. Against genetic weaponization and other state-sponsored uses it would be a bit like banning nuclear bombs -- a great idea for everyone but a foolish one for each individual state.

And that's only if such legal barriers are even constructed which I'm not sure they will be. Look how the privacy battle has turned out thus far.

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Re:23andMe to share customer gene data with GlaxoSmithKline ... by JoeAltmaier on Tuesday December 17, 2019 @06:48PM (#21820324)
Really? Public surveillance is explicitly allowed without warrant.
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