The consumer-genomics company 23andMe just sold its biobank of customer genetic data to drugmaker Regeneron for $256 million.

Regeneron is to pay $256 million in cash to acquire “substantially all” of 23andMe’s assets, including its massive biobank of around 15 million customer genetic samples and data.

  • msage@programming.dev
    48·
    8 hours ago

    Don’t give me that ‘hindsight is 20/20’, it was the first thought I had when I heard about this.

    ‘How are they going to monetize this?’

    Either they sell your data, or they go under and… sell your data.

    There was no other option from the inception.

    None of this is new, and private companies gobbling up any data they can hasn’t been new since at least 2005.

    • Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world
      1·
      2 hours ago

      I’m glad you had the foresight to keep yourself safe, but unfortunately not everybody is as observant or skilled in critical thinking as you are. We all started from ignorance, and no matter how well-learned a person is, they can’t possibly know everything. The least we can do is remind ourselves that we’re imperfect too, and have some compassion for those that are just discovering things that we have already learned.

    • JackbyDev@programming.devEnglish
      7·
      5 hours ago

      Don’t give me that ‘hindsight is 20/20’, it was the first thought I had when I heard about this.

      ‘How are they going to monetize this?’

      The tests weren’t free.

      • msage@programming.dev
        31·
        4 hours ago

        So what are they going to do after?

        You won’t get tested twice, they still need to pay for existing. After they test everyone, how are they going to keep it up?

        Unless they take more money from you, they will sell your data to someone else.

        Insurance companies? Advertisers? Those things provide value for bad actors more than for you.