"Stanford Law’s Jen King is more than familiar with the potential policy pitfalls unique to this area of data collection. As director of consumer privacy for Stanford’s Center for Internet and Privacy, King conducted a study of 23andMe users looking at their motivations for taking the test, and their perception of risk. I dialed King to get her take on some of the legal and privacy issues around DNA data collection, where the law stands and what may be in store down the road.
Here are the highlights, condensed for clarity:
Q: What are some of the bigger privacy concerns people should have regarding sharing their DNA with companies like 23andMe?
DNA is unlike any other data that you share or have collected. It is uniquely identifiable, and it’s unchangeable. It’s yours. Forever. You could change your social security number. You could change your name. You can’t change your DNA. I think people are used to sharing and giving away a lot of info about themselves, but this is different. You could infer things about other people from your data. DNA is shared with your family. When you give that up, you potentially give up other people’s identifiability and privacy as well."
Read the full interview at Law.com.
- Date Published:11/28/2018
- Original Publication:Law.com