#23andme

[dduane]

Folks -- if these people have any of your data, this is a really good time to DELETE IT. They're circling the drain, and there's no way to tell who'll get their mitts on that data once they fully go under.

[probablyasocialecologist]

First, let’s address the fact that hackers recently accessed the personal data of about 14,000 23andMe customers. Because of how 23andMe works—it has a “DNA Relatives” feature that lets users find people they are probably related to—this breach created 6.9 million “other users” who had data stolen in the breach, according to reporting by TechCrunch. This data included people’s names, birth year, relationships, percentage of DNA shared with other 23andMe users, and ancestry reports.

[...]

Getting your DNA or your loved ones’ DNA sequenced means you are potentially putting people who are related to those people at risk in ways that are easily predictable, but also in ways we cannot yet predict because these databases are still relatively new. I am writing this article right now because of the hack, but my stance on this issue has been the same for years, for reasons outside of the hack. In 2016, I moderated a panel at SXSW called “Is Your Biological Data Safe?,” which was broadly about the privacy implications of companies and other entities creating gigantic databases of people’s genetic code. This panel’s experts included a 23andMe executive as well as an FBI field agent. Everyone on the panel and everyone in the industry agrees that genetic information is potentially very sensitive, and the use of DNA to solve crimes is obviously well established.  At the time, many of the possible dangers of providing your genome to a DNA sequencing company were hypothetical. Since then, many of the hypothetical issues we discussed have become a reality in one way or another. For example, on that panel, we discussed the work of an artist who was turning lost strands of hair, wads of chewing gum, and other found DNA into visual genetic “portraits” of people. Last year, the Edmonton Police Service, using a company called Parabon, used a similar process to create 3D images of crime suspects using DNA from the case. The police had no idea if the portrait they generated actually looked like the suspect they wanted, and the practice is incredibly concerning. To its credit, 23andMe itself has steadfastly resisted law enforcement requests for information, but other large databases of genetic information have been used to solve crimes. Both 23andMe and Ancestry are regularly the recipients of law enforcement requests for data, meaning police do see these companies as potentially valuable data mines. 

[ralfmaximus]

"Hackers stealing data from a genetic testing company" sounds like a cyberpunk rpg side mission.

[allthegeopolitics]

Canada's privacy commissioner is teaming up with his U.K. counterpart to investigate a data breach discovered last year at 23andMe. Philippe Dufresne's office says the joint investigation with U.K. Information Commissioner John Edwards will aim to determine the scope of the October 2023 breach at the direct-to-consumer genetic testing company. They will also look into whether 23andMe had proper safeguards to protect the highly sensitive information it handled and whether the company adequately notified regulators and affected individuals about the breach.

Continue Reading.

[salvadorbonaparte]

Obligatory disclaimer that these tests don't mean anything and are also kinda sketchy but I got curious about some gaps in my family history and did a 23andme and two interesting results:

I have more Eastern European DNA than expected

I have like 1 distant Jewish ancestor which is so funny as a convert (in progress) because like yes I get you random unknown ancestor. It's you and me against the world.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

If you've ever used 23andMe to learn more about your family ancestry, you could be eligible for compensation due to a class-action lawsuit against the company.

Law firms in Toronto and Vancouver launched a class-action lawsuit against 23andMe this week in response to a data breach that exposed users’ highly sensitive and valuable personal information earlier this year.

"The action alleges that contrary to their promises, statements and representations, as well as the privacy regulation and industry standards applicable to them, [23andMe] did not introduce, implement or maintain proper or adequate data retention and data protection practices," reads the lawsuit.

Full article

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[azspot]

Take 23andme, the creepy genomics company that enticed millions of people into sending them their genetic material (even if you aren't a 23andme customer, they probably have most of your genome, thanks to relatives who sent in cheek-swabs). 23andme is now bankrupt, and its bankruptcy estate is shopping for a buyer who'd like to commercially exploit all that juicy genetic data, even if that is to the detriment of the people it came from. What's more, the bankruptcy estate is refusing to destroy samples from people who want to opt out of this future sale…

Cory Doctorow

[phantomstatistician]

Hi everyone! I just wanted to share that I was recently featured on the "We're All Insane" podcast! (I'm the one in the pink/white tank top.) Please give it a listen if you're curious about my story of discovering through 23andMe that I have at least 11 half siblings.

[macmanx]

A lack of federal regulation and a cluttered mess of state privacy laws ultimately means that if 23andMe faces a sale, the data of millions of Americans is also on the table. The company’s privacy policy says that its customers’ personal information “may be accessed, sold or transferred” as part of a bankruptcy, merger, acquisition, reorganization, or sale.

[richardmurrayhumblr]

The 41st edition of the 2024 Richard Murray Newsletter. topics The seventy-third of the Cento series. A cento is a poem made by an author from the lines of another author's work. In the series I place my cento and a link to the other authors poem.

Book Review: The Gardins of Edin by Rosey Lee

Dates: astronomy, Astrology

IF YOU MADE IT THIS FAR : Ask Eddie - film noir aug 22nd 2024 , Will 23andme if private provide genetic data privately , Black Caesars and Foxy Cleopatras by Odie Henderson , Nvidia , Second Kiss by Milton J. Davis , Baby Reindeer , Parallel from Movies That Move We

https://rmnewsletter.over-blog.com/2023/11/10/06/2024-rmnewsletter.html

#rmnewsletter

[wormsngods]

Sudanese Ancestry

On account of my 0.3% Sudanese ancestry (whopping I know), I will be making a reading list and a watch list for (historical) Sudanese/Ancient Egypt centric content, recommendations are appreciated although I doubt there are any Sudanese people on here who will encounter my post but fingers crossed.

Reading List (unfinished)

• Papyrus of Ani

• Ethiopian Apocrypha

• Funj Chronicle

• Stelae of Piye

Would appreciate if someone could point me in the direction of english sudanese texts that focus more on traditional life and history rather than contemporary issues with an emphasis on the Funj, Alodia, Makuria, Nobatia, Kush and the 25th Dynasty of Egypt.

Watch List (most of this is crypto racist propaganda)

• The Egyptian

• The Ten Commandments

• Khartoum

• The Four Feathers

• Storm over the Nile

• Tajouje (Can not find this for the life of me)

Once again would love to come in contact with Sudanese people or people more well versed on the subject to give pointers.

[mudwerks]

(via Genetics firm 23andMe says user data stolen in credential stuffing attack)

gee how UNEXPECTED

except for everybody that has been expecting this to happen...

[trexalicious]

While the company’s privacy policies claim to prioritize customer consent, a sale could result in a new owner with different priorities...

[crispyliza]

Those people that buy everyone in their family ancestry DNA kits as gifts have to know some shit right? Otherwise what's the point of paying all these money to examine the same DNA? All my family members just use my own to figure out theirs. Especially my sister who would logically have the same results as me.

Moral of the story: if a family member buys you a DNA kit your world is about to turn upside down.

[sableunderscore]

So, I did DNA testing done, and it was 99.1 % European, and apparently I descend from an old Irish King, Niall of the Nine Hostages, as well as Gyspies and Alchemists, so uh, I am basically a witch,

IM A FUCKING WITCH

An actual trans witch, wtf

I couldn't make this shit up if I tried

BEHOLD MY POWER

*a huge smoke cloud appears and obscures me, when it lifts im lying unconscious on the floor due to smoke inhalation*