A reversal of sorts, where the market used to have people who made things and people who bought things, but now it's just people taking things from other people, who get nothing in return.
The consumer became the product. Because let's face it, all DNA-testing sites are really just Ancestry dot com, which was based on early 20th century surveillance, similar to the very expensive advertising lists compiled from reams of public and non-public personal data. Think churches, governments and community organizations holding marriage certificates, military records, or payment accounting books. The DNA part was just like hanging a Store Closing All Items Half Price sign in the window.
Granted, there are a few easy genes to tell you otherwise really obvious things about yourself. Are you Asian? That's ABCC11, called the 'no body odor' gene. I had no idea I was Asian until now actually, thank you DNA company. There'a another one for people of African origin, something related to sickle cell anemia and diabetes, called the HBB mutation.
Here's a better explanation:
"To understand the ancestry tests, you have to begin by looking at the fine print. This [type of test] says 'for recreational purposes only' or something very similar. It obviously is written by lawyers, not scientists, and it's a way of saying that the results have no scientific or legal standing. This is privatized, corporate science, not ordinary science. "How do they come up with numbers? They take DNA from people from disparate regions and compare yours to theirs. The numbers reflect a measure of your DNA similarity to those of the divergent gene pools. How do they calculate it? Don't know; the algorithms are protected intellectual property. Are they accurate? About as accurate as looking in the mirror."--NPR, Why You Should Think Twice About Those DNA-By-Mail Results, 2017 [link]
It's not that the DNA-ancestry companies don't work at all, just that they work far, far less than they would have us believe (kind of like smart shoelaces or AI handlebars).
In other words, when you give your DNA to a company for the purposes of discovering your ancestry, they're getting more usable information about you than you are about yourself. And then things like this happen:
DNA-testing site 23andMe fights for survival
Nov 2024, BBC News
"Until we ban the trade in personal data, we are not well protected enough."-Carissa Velez, author of Privacy is Power
Image credit: AI Art - Sandwich Man 3 - 2024
Something to consider - the Chan Zuckerberg Foundation has the Tabula Sapiens atlas of human tissue. (2022) [link]
I gave my DNA to tracking company - then it vanished
Nov 2024, BBC News
A DNA-testing firm appears to have ceased trading - without telling its customers what has happened to the highly sensitive data they shared with it.Atlas Biomed, which has offices in London, offered to provide insights into people's genetic make up as well as their predisposition to certain illnesses.However, users are no longer able to access their personalised reports online and the company has not responded to the BBC's requests for comment.Customers of the firm describe the situation as "very alarming" and say they want answers about what has happened to their "most personal information".
This next article seems different, but it's actually the same:
Smart gadgets’ failure to commit to software support could be illegal, FTC warns
Nov 2024, Ars Technica
Makers of smart devices that fail to disclose how long they will support their products with software updates may be breaking the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warned this week.The FTC released its statement after examining 184 smart products across 64 product categories, including soundbars, video doorbells, breast pumps, smartphones, home appliances, and garage door opener controllers. Among devices researched, the majority—or 163 to be precise—"did not disclose the connected device support duration or end date" on their product webpage, per the FTC's report [PDF]. Contrastingly, 11.4 percent of devices examined shared a software support duration or end date on their product page.
Post Script on quality in the post-consumer era:
Majority of clothes being donated are exported or discarded: Study calls for city fashion waste shakeup
Nov 2024, phys.org
Charities and collectors have been reporting the plummeting quality of garments over the past 15 to 20 years, decreasing resale potential
Further Reading: Privacy is Power: Why and How You Should Take Back Control of Your Data, 2022
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