this post was submitted on 31 Oct 2023
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The only way I'm ever getting sequenced is if the machine is in front of me, is an open-source design or can be destroyed afterwards, and I get the only copy on my own encrypted drive. Or it's done without my consent. Probably the latter the way things are going.
Only way I'm doing it is if I assembled the machine from a kit and got to inspect the source code myself.
Do you realize that you don't need to volunteer at all? Do you know that there was a rape and murder case that was proven using data from a similar (same?) company? They found a bunch of people with DNA similar to that from the rape kit and went on to find their common relative.
The story above may sound good. But it won't be too hard for medical insurance companies to deduce your approximate genetic profile based on the samples submitted by your relatives.
Even worse, it doesn't take a lot of genetic material these days to profile you. The PCR technique (the same used for Covid-19 screening) can amplify samples. You may have submitted a blood sample at some point in the last few years. How would you know if a tiny bit of that was siphoned off to create an exact genetic profile of yours?
Different company. There's a site called Gedmatch where you can upload your file and one of the feature you can choose to use is to allow your file be used to identify does or solve serious crimes. Nobody is doing this secretly.
Yeah. That's kind of what I was getting at with the "without my consent" part.