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Are any of the DNA testing companies trustworthy? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by Snapz@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

53 comments fedilink hide all child comments

So obviously we're all on Lemmy for a complicated combination of reasons, but we all likely share some common ground, namely...

need for privacy
need to own/control/access the data we produce
healthy skepticism about the trustworthiness of for-profit corporations, in general

So if we don't want meta to know even innocuous things; like how many times/when we message our grandma, and we don't google to know when we're searching for remedies to a rash, and we don't want reddit to... Well we just don't want reddit - we don't want them to profit from or weaponize that data against us in a myriad ways.

We also don't want them artificially removing features and creating tiered layers of service/value hidden behind a paywall (I understand this is very present in the some of the commercially available DNA services).

So that brings me to DNA testing services. Since they started to emerge in the mainstream they were immediately an interesting, exciting novelty and I also knew it was data I wouldn't feel safe trusting with a for-profit org - with broken systems like law enforcement and health insurers on speed dial and just salivating for the goodies they collect.

So all that considered, any groups that provide this type of service that you do trust/use, and why?

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[–] James@lemmy.ca 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

No. They have that data forever. You can’t take it back.

Who knows what’s going to happen to it in 20-50 years, people never seem to consider those timescales when handing over their data to companies.

Worst part is, there is a solid chance they already have all your data from a sibling or close relative.

[–] soggywhale@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 year ago

Ai machine learning decentralized blockchain Eugenism 3.0 babyyy

[–] livus@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago

Who knows what’s going to happen to it in 20-50 years, people never seem to consider those timescales when handing over their data to companies.

This is what gets me too. We live in a culture where hostile takeovers are a thing.

In my country we have universal healthcare but I wouldn't bet my genetic data on that still being around in 50 years' time either. I don't want to end up "uninsurable" in a Gattaca kind of way.