23andMe was always a product with a very small upside and absolutely massive downside. Best case scenario, it's a neat little thing to learn about yourself. Worst case scenario, it's a massive opportunity for discrimination and blackmail.
Completely unrelated: for some reason, on kbin, the thumbnail for this article is the thumbnail for this youtube video, and that is a cooler thing than 23andMe by far.
I totally agree in principle. Handing over your genetic information to shady 3rd parties is stupid. But how do you know it hasn't happened without your knowledge or permission? Technology exists that can extract DNA from fingerprints (the PCR that was used for covid-19 tests). Meanwhile, how many blood tests do you get in a year? How do you know what happens with those samples?
The thing with 23andme and other DNA genealogy profilers is that a vast section of the population knew that it was a stupid and dangerous idea. Perhaps there was better awareness about it than about any other technical problem that plagues our society. Despite all that, the other section of the population decided to simply ignore the loud warnings and outcry and managed to get their genetic information leaked. Even worse, the leaked information doesn't just affect them - it affects their relatives too. So potentially, a lot of people who didn't like the tests also have their information leaked. Some people just won't learn.
Uh-huh. She was in a relationship with Sergey Brin when she founded 23andme. She really tightened her belt and pulled herself up by her bootstraps. Such an inspiration.
Brin was married to her sister Anne, the biotech analyst.
In fact him and Larry Page started up Google in Susan Wojcicki's garage in Menlo Park. Perhaps in gratitude he later funded her it is not mentioned in his Wiki.