This has huge, far reaching privacy concerns.
How many folks here would like to give their DNA information to private equity?
How many folks here would like to give their DNA information to private equity?
That cat was already out of the bag.
I don't think this really alleviates concerns people have though.
Yet, while privacy issues are a point of concern among geneticists when it comes to direct-to-consumer genetic testing, the general points of caution are directed to relational and emotional issues. Many people think little of the relational consequences genetic testing can bear, where family members are implicated often unwillingly. Another point is that people often make up wrong conclusions about their results and see them as some infallible passport of who they are, while the tests are limited in what they actually can tell. Or let's say tests show you have a disposition for increased disease risk. I doubt many give it a really good thought of whether they truly want to know and live with said knowledge for the rest of their lives.
I happen to think my DNA is pretty good, but it's not like I had anything to do with that. It's more like I happen to like the seed for the minecraft world I'm playing.
I don't feel like I own my DNA in the same way that I own property or things. It helped me be who I am, but why would I stop someone else from looking at it or trying to use it in some way? As long as I get to keep using it, I'm happy.
Outside of this community how many people submitting their DNA to Ancestry looked up their privacy, data selling policies and shareholders? I don't imagine many.