this post was submitted on 14 Mar 2024
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Pet DNA testing company in doghouse after identifying human as canine (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/[email protected]/t/895673

DNA My Dog received human genetic sample and identified it as a malamute, shar-pei and labrador, according to news station

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (2 children)

It’s really a shame. You’d think an established DNA company like 23andMe would enter this market.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (4 children)

Because their users are stupid and reuse passwords? Not really 23andmes fault

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago

As far as I know they're completely unregulated in who they can sell your genetic info to, and they're pretty lazy in terms of information security. So maybe your siblings both send of their info to them, they identify that your family is at a high risk for heart disease, and suddenly your private health insurance company wants to double their fees. Or, with my tinfoil hat on, maybe your family is identified as being a particular ethnic minority, and an authoritarian government gets voted in in a couple of decades who uses that info to round up people they don't like. A bit far-fetched, but hopefully you get my point!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago

Well that and they happily provide DNA info to police whenever asked. To the point where they can find people through relatives. Like, if you have a shithead cousin who commits a crime, they can use your DNA to match his. And then the police have your DNA on file.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

As I’m sure you know, the accounts that got credential stuffed also exposed the information of anyone that had shared data with them.

What’s more is these hacked accounts were used to friend and solicit other 23&Me users to share their data, expanding the amount of data collected well beyond the scope of just the accounts that got hacked.

I’m sure the nearly 7 million people who had their info stolen through the breach of just 14k accounts weren’t all stupid.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

They completely underrepresented the scope of the breach.... That is what puts them in the sketchy category

https://www.wired.com/story/23andme-breach-sec-update/

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Well 23&me business is not actually DNA testing, it's collecting and selling people's DNA data. The market for this on pets does not exist

Also, the way they handled their data breach (or the fact they had any) definitely stains their reputation

Finally, because they were doing the DNA testing at a loss and selling the DNA data has proven to be harder than expected, they are actually on the bring of bankruptcy

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Just goes to show you, these days, even if you pay, you're still the product

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Oh certainly... We pay a lot for cars and the manufacturers are also selling your data