It seems magical, you spit in a tube, ship it off, and a few weeks later you find out that you’re great grandpa was 1/5 Mongolian, or that you’re genetically predisposed to hate the sound of people chewing, but have you stopped to think about what they’re doing with that data? They’re selling it, and it’s making them a lot of money. A quick peruse through their website will reassure you that all your “individual level” information is stripped away when they share information with third parties to “perform business development” and “improve services” but is that any better? When you register for their service, there are several privacy choices you can make, like would you like them to keep your saliva or discard of it, but you never have the option to say what you would like done with your information. In fact, they say that by utilizing their service, you are “consenting to having 23andMe and its contractors access and analyze your stored sample.” Maybe that’s why pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline purchased a 300 million stake in the company back in 2018. To this you may say, who cares if drug companies are using my health data to develop drugs? You should. You are quite literally spending 100 plus dollars to help a giant corporation make even more money off your personal information. If that’s not unethical frankly I don’t know what is. These companies are fooling the public into thinking they are some benevolent purveyor of the information, when in reality they are building vast information data bases. They don’t care about you one bit, all they care about is your genetic information and what money they can make off you.
Unfortunately, this is just the top of a very slippery slope. The Equifax data breach clearly demonstrated that even the supposedly most secure systems, as 23 and me claims to have, can be hacked. What happens if your entire genetic profile is leaked? Maybe nothing significant now, but in 30 years who knows. Moreover, what if the government comes knocking trying to implicate you in a crime? Apple said no, but who is to say 23 and me will follow suit? Just look at the Golden State Killer Case if you’re interested. These companies are not here to help you, and consumers should be aware of the risks associated with using their services.
The topic of your blogpost is interesting and it's definitely relevant to what we're covering in class. One thing missing from the post is a connection to one of our readings. Could this apply to Vallor's virtues piece or Frankfurt's "Lies, Truth, and Bullshit"? Also, you cite a lot of information about 23 and me and mention the Golden State Killer. Because your readers might not be familiar with these things, or maybe they're curious and want more context, it'd be helpful if hyperlinked to some external sources with more info about them.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very engaging post and gets me fired up about data privacy! Most other examples aren't as extreme as your genetic makeup, but these kinds of companies take advantage of how little people know about what happens with their information. I'm not aware of what laws are in place now, but we really need to consider putting regulations on these companies. If you plan to revise this, try to connect your points with the readings to make them more robust.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post that brings up a ton of good points.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who has actually used 23&Me, it is something
that I never thought about or considered went sending my
saliva in to be analyzed. I simply looked at the results a few
months later and that was that. One thing I think you could
do to better orchestrate your points would be to connect it
back to the class and to some of the readings. You bring up great points and examples about privacy of data and information, and those could be more strengthened by connecting them to the readings.
I was actually drawn to your post because several of the podcasts I listen to have featured 23 and Me CEO, Anne Wojcicki. 23 and Me has often been portrayed as an extremely ethical tech company in comparison with the likes of Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon and so on. Your post provided great clarity on the "fine print" that 23 and Me is not necessarily telling their customers about, which is extremely problematic. Ancestral data is valuable for many reasons, as you pointed out such as identifying pre-existing conditions and disorders. This data is probably being packaged and sold off to companies in the medical spaces that can take advantage of this valuable data. I really wish you had included the reading into your article, since I think everything we learned about transparency is so relevant here. I would strongly consider adding direct quotes to strengthen your argument, as I feel like they could really hit this post home.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really good topic. I didn't realize companies like this exist primarily to harvest data--although it seems inevitable in retrospect. I also like the almost-conversational style of writing. It flows well in a blog-style post.
ReplyDeleteI would break up your paragraphs--and in particular, the first paragraph--into multiple tiny ones. Although the writing was good, reading it was taxing; it's a wall of text, there's nothing for my eyes to lock on to.
Since the point of the assignment is to demonstrate critical comprehension, I would try to make more concrete connections to the course material. I don't see any readings mentioned here.
Hi Rohan, your blog post is very interesting! It is fascinating that they have the right to your genetic information after purchasing their service. My only critique of the post would be to break up the first paragraph for readability, otherwise the language was very easy to read.
ReplyDeleteI like how you use your hook to draw people in with an imagined scenario. The way you illustrate different situations is very engaging, but once you draw people in, you should connect with a reading to help further your point, so I would add that to deepen the connection to the class. I also think you should add context for why the slope is so slippery, as just saying to look up a case is not that helpful for understanding. This is also an opportunity to strengthen your case with direct quotes, which would also help your post.
ReplyDelete