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Comment by tombert | Hacker News Reader

> I can think of no more sensitive biometric data than your dna.

I dunno, is that actually true? You leave DNA everywhere don't you? If someone really wanted tombert's DNA, they'd just have to follow me onto the train and swab the poll I'm grabbing, or grab the cup I was sipping on at McDonald's, or any number of things that could lead to a number of cells containing my DNA in a state that could be collected being dropped.

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Hardly the same.

Your day to day DNA “leavings” aren’t neatly packaged up and associated with your other PII like name, location, email address, etc in a stolen, searchable dataset.

If they know who you are, it's easy. If all they have is the DNA, that database will link it to you. They have caught several serial killers because close relatives were in DNA databases, which allowed honing in on a small number of living suspects.

You do realize there's a difference between obsessing about tombert (or groby) vs hoovering up DNA at scale, right? Your insurance company probably won't follow you around personally, but if they can buy a bunch of DNA (yours included) for a few dollars/person and use that to strategically deny claims/increase costs, yeah, they'll sign up for that.

The issue with digital data is almost never the individual targeting case. Cheap mass surveillance is the concern.

Following you probably costs more per hour than buying a whole country's DNA from a broker. And definitely costs more than a leaked dataset.

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