that stuff that you breathe out, slough off and leave literally every places youve ever been? yeah, need to keep that under wraps.
Except that leaving it somewhere is like a pseudonym. It would take a lot of effort to pinpoint to once specific person unless that person was already the sole target - then you just get a sample at their home.
Also, breathing out DNA?
It’s not necessary for the person to be the sole target.
By comparing the persons DNA to 2 or 3 relatives in a database, it’s quite easy to identify whose DNA you have, or at least narrow it down to a few potentials. (E.g. the DNA is from a male that is a cousin of X by the male line and nephew of Y by the female line).
all dna is interconnected as all humans are sourced from the same source dna. at some point, we will have enough dna in a database to be able to pinpoint almost any sample to anyone or their family closest in that dataset. it will eventually just be everyone. the set doesnt change, it will just grow as more people are added and its ‘accidentally’ released. its inevitable.
retrieving any humans dna you really want is fairly trivial. we need only minute traces anymore, and it gets less as amplification techniques improve. they already have molecular sniffing devices in all major airports. not for dna, but you get the idea.
ha, yes when you breathe you exhale a lot of particulate into the air, and guess what, its laden with your dna.
personally, i could not care less. have my dna, do what you will with it. oh noooes you have all of the numbers of me… whateverwillido?!
realistically, its only valuable in aggregate.
the only real concern ive ever heard was corporations making decisions on peoples dna, and that can be trivially circumvented by extending discrimination laws.
i care more about my amazon password leaking than anyone having my irrevocably unchangeable dna. why worry about it?
Well first off it isn’t just you. It is your family as well. Maybe your cousin is more privacy minded and doesn’t appreciate it. Did you get their consent before you spit?
Secondly if you can’t think of how this could be misused you have a failure of imagination. We already know that a list of people with Jewish background leaked and it is an open question what happens next with that, but I highly doubt anything good. Maybe other minorities will be targeted next? Roma for example or the autistic. It doesn’t even have to be nightmarish like terrorism and tailored germs it could be boring oppression.
