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Comment by snapcaster | Hacker News Reader

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Well, let's see - because I wanted to have children, and I didn't know who my biological father was, so I wanted to understand if my wife and I were likely to carry any of the same dangerous recessive genes? And I wanted to know if there were likely any big, detectable gotchas coming up as I got older.

And because, in the process, I discovered a couple of half brothers.

My life is better because of the knowledge I got from genetic testing.

(It also wasn't a "random" startup to me; I had it recommended by someone I trust who knows the founder.)

I continue to be surprised at the sheer number of people on HN who are more enraged at the victims for their "stupidity" than at the perpetrators (23andMe for ToS shenanigans and/or the hackers for the hack).

How are you getting that i'm "more enraged" at the victims? I'm not absolving the company of anything, I'm criticizing people who give something like their DNA to a random company naive and foolish

edit: I would have the exact same stance (and did and continue to) even if there was no hack

Because your original comment was the only comment you made on the thread.

And you made NO mention of the real villains.

And you accused these people of screwing over their kids and all their descendants.

And you only "not absolving" the real villains even now.

Why would you be angry at someone that didn't do anything that negatively affects you? Do you get mad at people that eat unhealthy food?

Yes actually

Well that anger (stress) is doing you harm. Do you get angry at yourself that your anger towards others is reducing your lifetime?

Maybe just live your own life instead.

Most of the time we're leaking our DNA all over the place by existing

Your SSN and credit card number are listed on many documents and are transmitted by you all the time, why do you have a problem posting them in clear text here for us?

what can you buy with my dna

thanks to multiple health insurance breaches, if you know my name you can find my ssn

So you would be ok if governments around the world have sample of yours and store it in a database?

No, the company in question made promises about the security of it and has broken those promises. Now their customer's DNA is potentially available to anyone (not just governments). They should pay dearly for breaking these promises. This is not the point of my original comment.

The person I'm responding to is victim-blaming, and also making the completely silly claim that it's irresponsible to willingly "leak" DNA through some vague lens that it's going to be used to harm your descendants for generations.

DNA sequencing is constantly becoming more affordable and accessible. Unless regulated, this will be data that gets collected and abused en-masse. It's a little expensive now, but I could easily sequence just about anyone's DNA today as long as I have some sort of physical access to a space they use. If that's the commenters concern, they'd be much better off focusing on that rather than blaming people for expecting a company to keep medical data secure.

There is no practical way to prevent it, so yes, it's OK because there is no reasonable alternative.

So everything you can't prevent is ok?

If the government is providing healthcare, as it does in many countries, then they have it already.

Yes. What's the problem?

Prove it by copy and pasting your DNA in a reply.

Someone did it above.

The DNA we are leaking is impossible to copy unlike the DNA we are sending to 23andme.

No; this is factually wrong.

And not even a bit of clarifying? If you can convert the DNA sample into two DNA copies without destroying the sample, probably you are a God.

You said "The DNA we are leaking is impossible to copy unlike the DNA we are sending to 23andme."

I said it was wrong because if people collect environmental human DNA samples and "copy" them (amplify with PCR).

Not sure what you mean about destroying the sample- you typically take part of the sample and amplify it without destroying the whole thing.

I'm just unsure of what you are trying to say here; I'm responding with purely factual answers based on modern DNA technology.

Nanpore sequencing can be done with a device that can fit into your pocket, these devices can be found for less than $1000.

You know, you can send other peoples DNA to sequencing services too…

Probably you can send to them anything else but how it relates to my comment?

Meaning that your DNA is not safe, even if you yourself never send it. DNA is leaking everywhere, anyone could collect it and send for analysis.

Why do you care again?

It's DNA, not your BitWarden password.

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