23andMe - What happens the data is your DNA?
This is part 1 of a science fiction/know your rights series of blog
posts. The following is a true story. For this post I want you to use
your creativity and write a paragraph about what you think happens to
Sarah next. It can be anything you want based upon the information you
now have about Sarah.
Sarah hovered over the mailbox, envelope in hand. She knew as soon as she mailed off her DNA sample, there’d be no turning back. She ran through the information she looked up on 23andMe’s website one more time: the privacy policy, the research parameters, the option to learn about potential health risks, the warning that the findings could have a dramatic impact on her life.
She paused, instinctively retracting her arm from the mailbox opening. Would she live to regret this choice? What could she learn about her family, herself that she may not want to know? How safe did she really feel giving her genetic information away to be studied, shared with others, or even experimented with?
Thinking back to her sign-up experience, Sarah suddenly worried about the massive amount of personally identifiable information she already handed over to the company. With a background in IT, she knew what a juicy target hers and other customers’ data would be for a potential hacker. Realistically, how safe was her data from a potential breach? She tried to recall the specifics of the EULA, but the wall of legalese text melted before her memory.
Pivoting on her heel, Sarah began to turn away from the mailbox when she remembered just why she wanted to sign up for genetic testing in the first place. She was compelled to learn about her own health history after finding out she had a rare genetic disorder, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, and wanted to present her DNA for the purpose of further research. In addition, she was on a mission to find her mother’s father. She had a vague idea of who he was, but no clue how to track him down, and believed DNA testing could lead her in the right direction.
Sarah closed her eyes and pictured her mother’s face when she told her she found her dad. With renewed conviction, she dropped the envelope in the mailbox. It was done.
https://blog.malwarebytes.com/101/2018/11/dna-testing-kit-companies-really-data/
Sarah hovered over the mailbox, envelope in hand. She knew as soon as she mailed off her DNA sample, there’d be no turning back. She ran through the information she looked up on 23andMe’s website one more time: the privacy policy, the research parameters, the option to learn about potential health risks, the warning that the findings could have a dramatic impact on her life.
She paused, instinctively retracting her arm from the mailbox opening. Would she live to regret this choice? What could she learn about her family, herself that she may not want to know? How safe did she really feel giving her genetic information away to be studied, shared with others, or even experimented with?
Thinking back to her sign-up experience, Sarah suddenly worried about the massive amount of personally identifiable information she already handed over to the company. With a background in IT, she knew what a juicy target hers and other customers’ data would be for a potential hacker. Realistically, how safe was her data from a potential breach? She tried to recall the specifics of the EULA, but the wall of legalese text melted before her memory.
Pivoting on her heel, Sarah began to turn away from the mailbox when she remembered just why she wanted to sign up for genetic testing in the first place. She was compelled to learn about her own health history after finding out she had a rare genetic disorder, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, and wanted to present her DNA for the purpose of further research. In addition, she was on a mission to find her mother’s father. She had a vague idea of who he was, but no clue how to track him down, and believed DNA testing could lead her in the right direction.
Sarah closed her eyes and pictured her mother’s face when she told her she found her dad. With renewed conviction, she dropped the envelope in the mailbox. It was done.
https://blog.malwarebytes.com/101/2018/11/dna-testing-kit-companies-really-data/
Sarah was waiting to receive her results and then finally receives them. She is extremely excited to read her results. She is super interested to find out where she comes from and her background. She finds out who her family members are and finally finds out who her dad is. She runs upstairs to tell her mom she found her dad. Her mom is stunned and Sarah is very happy. Her and her mom talk for a few minutes about it. Then she finally goes back upstairs to begins to search and tries to find how to contact him.
ReplyDeleteAfter Sarah sent off her DNA to 23andme to get tested, she was left worrying for weeks if she would get the answers she needs or even more, what her DNA could possibly be used for or if it could be spread and the whole world knows her secrets. The day finally came where the envelope arrived. Sarah opened the envelope in excitment and she got what she was hoping for. She both learned who her mothers father was health history and found her ancestors. Although she got everything she wished for and more, Sarah still wondered what the people from 23andme could do with her DNA.
ReplyDeleteAfter putting the envelope in the mail, Sarah was so excited to hear her results. Three days later 23andMe recieves her envelope and calculates her results. Everyday that Sarah waited for her results she was just looking on her phone to track her mail. About five days later, her envelope from 23andMe arrives. When she looked at her results, it turns out it wasn't her personal results. She called the company and said her complaint but they wouldn't let her try again.
ReplyDeleteThe day has come it took three in a half days for 23andMe to deliver sarah's results. Sarah was feeling all types of strange emotions running through her body. she felt anxious,happy,nervous and scared all at the same time. She was passing back and forth in her room wondering if she should open her calculated results. after sarah has finally calm down she took a deep breath and opened the envelope and it was everything that she was looking and hoping for. She was thrilled to tell her mother that she finally found her father and they both sat there figuring out a way to contact him. However sarah still think to this day how did the people at 23andMe find everything? did they look through her private information ? did they search online? was this a safe idea? sarah will never know.
ReplyDeleteToday was the day that Sarah was getting her results after waiting for one week. The mailman rang the doorbell, Sarah quickly came downstairs and took the mail from the man. Then when she went through the mail to check which one was her results and not her mom's. When she found it, she took it upstairs to her bedroom and sat there for hours looking at the letter from 23andMe feeling nervous. 2 hours past and she finally open it. When she opened it, she was happy that they found her father. Then she went to her mother and they both wondered how to find a way to talk or contact him. Even though, Sarah wanted to find her dad which she did, she still wanted to know how did the company find her dad and everything else. Did they had to look though my personal information or did they hack into my stuff?
ReplyDeleteEveryday Sarah has looked out her window waiting for the mailman to come and deliver her mail. She will rush out the house, grab the mail and look through the letters roughly seeing if her letter from 23andMe has come. But, no luck has come yet. Until one day, she goes to check her mailbox, she sees a letter from 23andMe. She rushes into her house, drops the rest of the mail on the floor and just holds that one letter from 23andMe in her hands. Holding that one letter, so many emotions and a very important question going through her head. "Were they able to find my grandfather?" As she was trying to figure out whether or not she should open the letter, she decided that she should open it. She slowly rips the envelope open and sees the word congratulations on the letter. Sarah was so excited to see that word and continue to reads. Like Sarah, it says, "Congratulations, we were able to find your mother's father and this is all the information about him. More information about him please contact this number. etc." Sarah unbelievably happy and full of excitement and couldn't wait to show her mother. She showed her mother the letter and they were both jumping up and down with happiness in them. They contacted 23andMe number given to them to get her mother's father number and to be able to talk to him. When they were able to get her grandfather number they quickly dial the number and heard a voice through the phone that said "Hi". Both Sarah and her mother cried a little and said "Hi" back and told him who they were and they had a full on conversation with him. A few weeks later goes by and they were able to meet him in person for first time in forever.
ReplyDeleteSarah couldn't stop imagining her father - what he might look like, talk like, and how happy her mother would thinking about him. Sarah waited the whole day looking at the mailbox, hoping her results would soon be in. Finally, a week later, her results came. She found out who her father was and was very happy for about six months, until a hacker, copying her identity, had access to all of her information. Sarah was devastated. The hacker had spent everything on her credit card and left her greatly in debt. Sarah learnt her lesson - better to be safe then sorry.
ReplyDeleteAfter waiting and waiting to receive her results Sarah let out a loud sigh when she saw the mailman drop of a package. She slowly walked down to her package and picked it up. She shook it around and then placed it on the table and opened it carefully. As she was opening her package she saw some letter on the side and saw the statement of "DNA RESULTS WILL BE SAVED FOR FUTURE CLONING PRACTICE". Sarah quickly called the company and told them that they didn't ask for her permission to do so. The company told her that by her buying the product, gave them the authority to do so, Sarah thought she knew all the risk but she forgot to do what a lot of people usually forget to do, read the fine print. At this point Sarah doesn't know what to do, so she thinks and thinks."There's not much to do" says Sarah's mother. She also tells Sarah that her DNA could be the future of science. Sarah tried to look at the bright side of things she thought "Wow I really can be the future of science, maybe my DNA could make a clone that could help regenerate limbs for soldiers who have lost theirs. Then it hits her if they not only found out about her roots but her other personal information.
ReplyDeleteAfter Sarah made such a life changing decision , she waited days for her results more like months (lol). Finally, her DNA test results were dropped in front of her doorstep by the mail man. As soon as she realized the mail had arrived, she quickly ran to her doorstep and held her entire future in a tiny envelope. Now after all this anticipation Sarah was ready to change the course of her and her mothers lives. She then proceeded to open the envelope and in there she had gotten all the information she had requested. Sadly the information of her mothers Father brought bad news, which was he was no longer alive.
ReplyDelete-Christina Bryan 9a
Sarah is nervous for her result to come back, she waited everyone morning and night checking the mailbox. Waiting to see her results, she was disappointed when it was not there. She wanted to find out her grandfather and maybe even meet him. She imagined a happy ending but in the end it was nothing like that. She was disappointed she never found her grandfather and her blood was kept to do research on. But she never found out until one day when she was checking 23andMe and she thought to her self, where does our blood and information go after they are testing. She finally got her results back and she found out the disease came from her unknown grandfather. Her information was still in 23andMe and it will stay there. Sometimes Sarah regrets giving her information to 23andMe because they have her information and she does not know what they are doing with it.
ReplyDeleteAfter Sarah mail her DNA she was exited and would always look out of the window or seeing her mail box. She would sometimes dream about her dad with her being happy. A few weeks later the results came in and she was so exited. She opened it and on the paper there was many names she didn't understand it so she gave it to her mother. Her mother didn't understand it so they had to call the company. The company ask "who are you looking for" she said "my father". They toke some information from her and finally one week later they gave her a image and his name but they couldn't give her personal information of him. At the end she still didn't fine her mother but she's still looking for him.
ReplyDeleteFrom the following days, Sarah has been tending to receive her results from 23andMe. Sarah would look at her phone every day and wait for her incoming results. Roughly five days later, finally 23andMe appears. Fortunately, she discovered her father, but she didn't know how to reach out to him. They didn't grant her his information, like his number or home address. But of course, she thought how would they receive that kind of information. Would she be safe? Will her father be okay? There are so many questions she has, but unfortunately, she wouldn't know.
ReplyDeleteSarah finally gets a hold of her family, she is very excited about this because shes been waiting to find out who is her family after all. She sends her DNA test and when she receives it back with the results in it she grows very excited. She finally opens it and is very pleased with the answer, she finally found out who her grandfather is. She cannot wait to contact him.
ReplyDeleteOnce Sarah opened the envelope she found out some surprising news.. the news was that her grandfather lives in Arizona. She researched his information and booked a flight to Arizona and her flight was leaving the next morning. She was debating on calling him and making sure hes there and so that he knows that she is coming , so she did. Once she picked up the phone she hesitated and was having second thoughts. She dialed his number and he picked up. He was thrilled when she told him who she was and that she was coming to Arizona to see him. Once she got to Arizona and to his house she gave him a huge hug to celebrate her finding him. She went inside and they talked about their families history and she got to know more about him and her family. Sarah was so happy to meet her grandfather and he was so happy to meet her.
ReplyDeleteSarah is very nervous to see her results . She is also excited because she gets to find out more about her family and their history. When she received the news she finds out who her grandfather is and where he lives . she's eager to contact him and she does . Although she was excited she is still worried about giving the company her information . She can still easily be scammed .
ReplyDeleteSarah is very nervous to see her results . She is also excited because she gets to find out more about her family and their history. When she received the news she finds out who her grandfather is and where he lives . she's eager to contact him and she does . Although she was excited she is still worried about giving the company her information . She can still easily be scammed .
ReplyDeleteAfter Sarah mailed her DNA she was excited for the results. As she waited for months her anticipation grew stronger until her mail finally came.She was so happy to find out who she "really was. Although she was happy with finding out about her ancestors, she learned her father was dead. Sarah was eager to contact her grandfather
ReplyDeleteOne month later, Sarah sat down on her couch with her big bowl of popcorn ready to have a movie marathon and turned on the TV. What she saw made her heart drop, The website 23 and me is actually a fraud. They were selling peoples information to life insurance companies such as: Prudential, Met life and others. She was past angry, she was furious. How could they? Just sell peoples information just to get some cash? She immediately got in her car to drive to the police station. She told her story and they promised they would get back to her but, they wasn't really listening. They had important murders and homicides to get to anyway. That night Sarah returned to her house feeling weak, vulnerable and betrayed. She looked at her mail box and thought back to when she sent them her information. How could she be so naive?, she thought.
ReplyDelete