Open Source Genetic Database Shuts Down To Protect Users From 'Authoritarian Governments' (404media.co) 28
An anonymous reader quotes a report from 404 Media: The creator of an open source genetic database is shutting it down and deleting all of its data because he has come to believe that its existence is dangerous with "a rise in far-right and other authoritarian governments" in the United States and elsewhere. "The largest use case for DTC genetic data was not biomedical research or research in big pharma," Bastian Greshake Tzovaras, the founder of OpenSNP, wrote in a blog post. "Instead, the transformative impact of the data came to fruition among law enforcement agencies, who have put the genealogical properties of genetic data to use."
OpenSNP has collected roughly 7,500 genomes over the last 14 years, primarily by allowing people to voluntarily submit their own genetic information they have downloaded from 23andMe. With the bankruptcy of 23andMe, increased interest in genetic data by law enforcement, and the return of Donald Trump and rise of authoritarian governments worldwide, Greshake Tzovaras told 404 Media he no longer believes it is ethical to run the database. "I've been thinking about it since 23andMe was on the verge of bankruptcy and been really considering it since the U.S. election. It definitely is really bad over there [in the United States]," Greshake Tzovaras told 404 Media. "I am quite relieved to have made the decision and come to a conclusion. It's been weighing on my mind for a long time."
Greshake Tzovaras said that he is proud of the OpenSNP project, but that, in a world where scientific data is being censored and deleted and where the Trump administration has focused on criminalizing immigrants and trans people, he now believes that the most responsible thing to do is to delete the data and shut down the project. "Most people in OpenSNP may not be at particular risk right now, but there are people from vulnerable populations in here as well," Greshake Tzovaras said. "Thinking about gender representation, minorities, sexual orientation -- 23andMe has been working on the whole 'gay gene' thing, it's conceivable that this would at some point in the future become an issue." "Across the globe there is a rise in far-right and other authoritarian governments. While they are cracking down on free and open societies, they are also dedicated to replacing scientific thought and reasoning with pseudoscience across disciplines," Greshake Tzovaras wrote. "The risk/benefit calculus of providing free & open access to individual genetic data in 2025 is very different compared to 14 years ago. And so, sunsetting openSNP -- along with deleting the data stored within it -- feels like it is the most responsible act of stewardship for these data today."
"The interesting thing to me is there are data preservation efforts in the U.S. because the government is deleting scientific data that they don't like. This is approaching that same problem from a different direction," he added. "We need to protect the people in this database. I am supportive of preserving scientific data and knowledge, but the data comes second -- the people come first. We prefer deleting the data."
OpenSNP has collected roughly 7,500 genomes over the last 14 years, primarily by allowing people to voluntarily submit their own genetic information they have downloaded from 23andMe. With the bankruptcy of 23andMe, increased interest in genetic data by law enforcement, and the return of Donald Trump and rise of authoritarian governments worldwide, Greshake Tzovaras told 404 Media he no longer believes it is ethical to run the database. "I've been thinking about it since 23andMe was on the verge of bankruptcy and been really considering it since the U.S. election. It definitely is really bad over there [in the United States]," Greshake Tzovaras told 404 Media. "I am quite relieved to have made the decision and come to a conclusion. It's been weighing on my mind for a long time."
Greshake Tzovaras said that he is proud of the OpenSNP project, but that, in a world where scientific data is being censored and deleted and where the Trump administration has focused on criminalizing immigrants and trans people, he now believes that the most responsible thing to do is to delete the data and shut down the project. "Most people in OpenSNP may not be at particular risk right now, but there are people from vulnerable populations in here as well," Greshake Tzovaras said. "Thinking about gender representation, minorities, sexual orientation -- 23andMe has been working on the whole 'gay gene' thing, it's conceivable that this would at some point in the future become an issue." "Across the globe there is a rise in far-right and other authoritarian governments. While they are cracking down on free and open societies, they are also dedicated to replacing scientific thought and reasoning with pseudoscience across disciplines," Greshake Tzovaras wrote. "The risk/benefit calculus of providing free & open access to individual genetic data in 2025 is very different compared to 14 years ago. And so, sunsetting openSNP -- along with deleting the data stored within it -- feels like it is the most responsible act of stewardship for these data today."
"The interesting thing to me is there are data preservation efforts in the U.S. because the government is deleting scientific data that they don't like. This is approaching that same problem from a different direction," he added. "We need to protect the people in this database. I am supportive of preserving scientific data and knowledge, but the data comes second -- the people come first. We prefer deleting the data."
Re: (Score:3)
value signaling
Is this supposed to be a bad thing? You are signaling your values right now. You've basically turned "stating an opinion" into a negative act.
As for the efficacy of this shutdown, there are many open source genetic databases. The loss of one makes searching for genetic data incrementally more difficult. I don't know what else to say there, sometimes people do things because they think it will help in a small way. It doesn't always have to be world-changing.
Re: LOL (Score:2)
Oh yeah, totally! That opportunity is so rare these days, you must grab each and every one of them by the pussy.
Deleting the right parts ... (Score:1, Troll)
Re: (Score:2)
All they had to do was put the word "diversity" somewhere in the database and the US government would delete their all copies.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
That's NOT what's happening, and you know it.
Re: Deleting the right parts ... (Score:2)
Except when alumni have preferential treatment. Everybody whose grandparents studied at Harvard or MIT have equal preferential treatment. It just happens to be a bit rare for certain groups to have grandparents in university a century ago. But let's not discuss that. That would be too diverse for you. Might melt your brain.
Wow (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Democrats.
Party of slavery.
Party of the KKK.
Party that had an ex-KKK member in Congress into the 2010s.
Party that formed the majority if opposition to the Civil Rights Act.
Party that had produced 60% of public servants convicted of corruption.
Party that ran the Jim Crow South.
Party that championed eugenics for much of the 20th Century.
Party of the Daly family of Chicago.
Party of Tammany Hall.
Party that opposed the Equal Right Amendment.
Party that was caught committing election fraud numerous times thought o
Trump is shrinking govt (get it right) (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Far left is authoritarian and big govt. Right wing is conservative/libertarian/smallgovt. Left wing wants the govt to be the one stop shop for everything, to control everything
Imagine being dumb enough to post that.
It's not the left that is kidnapping people and shipping them off to overseas prisons. That's Trump.
Re: (Score:2)
Imagine being dumb enough to post that.
Imagine not only being dumb but to post but also ignorant of history
Democratic Republican FlipFlop [studentsofhistory.com]
Don't just bring up the Democrats failings if your going to just ignore the Republican ones.
Re: (Score:2)
So are you mad that people voted for Trump or are you mad people stayed home and didn't vote for Harris? Maybe both?
Maybe the Democrats should of held primaries. Your "team" found a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. I mean, you lost to fucking Trump. Someone everyone knows about. Nothing that is happening should come as a surprise to anyone.
You should be more mad that the Democrats couldn't beat Trump. That's kind of an achievement in its own right. You found a way to lose to the worst Presiden
Re:Wow (Score:5, Interesting)
So he has managed an instrument of authoritarianism because he believed that his favorite political team would hold power for all eternity.
Not at all. He ran it for 14 years. That means not long after it started, not only did "favorite political team" not hold power, they took control of all three branches of government and yet he continued on. What is happening currently in the US is the executive branch is dismantling oversight within departments of government, installing loyalists, and pushing formerly politically unthinkable actions, trying to curb the power of any part of the government that may impede them. This is a grave departure from how legitimate democracies operate. We've seen the same type of fall from grace occur in recent years within Turkey.
These are objective observations, not a political stance.
Re: Wow (Score:2)
We've seen the same type of fall from grace occur in recent years within Turkey.
And Russia. Trump's third term plans are right out of Putin's playbook. Like so many other moves. Everything from a short stint as "VP/PM" until the constitution can be amended, to steadily weakening the other branches of government and any checks and balances, ramping up attacks on the media, etc.
Virtue signalling? (Score:1, Insightful)
China and Russia have been slurping that stuff up for years, and already other Middle Eastern nations already have it. It seems that the US is a lightning rod because you can spit in an American's face without reprisal, while if one does the same to China or Russia, they actually take decisive action about it, other than maybe an angry post on social media.
If the US were really that authoritarian, you would be seeing the colleges empty, but the US still has the best university system in the world, where ev
Re: (Score:2)
I mean all these governments, US included, could easily put in a law to collect "anonymous" genome data for "heath risks" I don't see why his data is any better.
qq you used to be fun what happened (Score:1)
the effects of forty years of shitty education policy are beginning to be felt the world over. Combined with the various effects upon intelligence of microplastics accumulation and environmental exposure to manmade chemicals, it's not looking good, folks! Looks like the best we can hope for is the option to join the most benevolent dictatorship. Mine's open source!
Not going to help (Score:4)
First, as others have pointed out, the data has almost certainly been copied.
Second, millions of Americans have already been tested by 23andMe, Ancestry DNA, Family Tree DNA, and Heritage DNA. These labs have enough DNA to allow law enforcement to potentially track every single person in the US. This is because they don't need *your* DNA to track you, just DNA from a relative as distant as 2nd or 3rd cousin. Once they have submitted a DNA sample to one of these databases, they can contact people on the list of genetic matches, asking questions like "Do you have a relative living in Denver?" This is precisely how police have tracked down the Golden State Killer and others, who were never personally tested.
Face it, your DNA, or that of your relatives, is already out there.
Re: (Score:2)
What I also think people don't appreciate, is how much work it is to use SNP data even for this. Figuring out how a 3-4 cousin-level match is related, is hard, and it's not easy to automate.
It's enough work that authoritarian goons are more likely to use it as a pretext for punishing whoever they'd like to punish, than to use it to actually find the "guilty" (even after their own standard).
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Absolutely. People get into genealogy not because it's easy, but because it's hard, it's a fun challenge. If an authoritarian government did want to use some kind of actual data to track down dissenters or people of a particular race or whatever, using your browser history is far more accessible and available and cheap.