The Time Bomb Of DNA Testing And Race
The Time Bomb of DNA Testing and Race
Do-it-yourself genetic DNA testing kits could be exploiting our curiosity to build the world’s largest surveillance system
Photo: Eric Baradat/AFP/GettyWhen Alex* decided to use a DNA testing service in 2018, her motivation was clear: Like many African-Americans, she was hoping to discover something about her family lineage that predated the trauma of slavery. If we don’t have ownership of our DNA data once we’ve surrendered it, what are companies doing with it?Conversely, these direct-to-consumer tests have also found popularity among white nationalists obsessed with racial purity — even though the results are often not what they’d like. The company also emphasized that users could opt out of sharing their anonymized genetic information, though it’s still not clear how the company anonymized DNA data, which is inherently unique to each customer.
Source: onezero.medium.com