This is part 1 of a science fiction/technology/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 (end-user license agreement), 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.
What happens n3xt?
https://blog.malwarebytes.com/101/2018/11/dna-testing-kit-companies-really-data/
One week passed and Sarah thought she would never hear from the company again. Then,a sudden knock on her front door brought her a new hope. Could it be the mailman with her results? Unfortunately, it was not. Instead, Sarah was greeted by an NYPD detective, requesting entrance into her home. She obliged and inquired,"How can I help you, Detective?" "Well," the detective replied. "Do you know this man?" He held up an image of a bloody corpse laying on an autopsy table. Sarah shook her head vigorously. "No. That's terrible! What happened to him?" "Are you sure you know nothing about this man and the circumstances surrounding his demise?" the detective asked, raising an eyebrow. "Yes!" Sarah exclaimed. "Well then," the detective started. "Would you care to explain how your DNA was found all over the corpse and the murder weapon?" Sarah insisted on her innocence, but it was no use. The DNA evidence was enough to convince the jury to sentence her to life in prison for murder.
ReplyDeleteWhen Sarah drops the envelope into the mailbox, she immediately regrets it. She doesn't want the company to have her information. She now needs to get the envelope out of the mailbox before it gets sent out. She has an idea to try and get it. She gets a screwdriver and starts to unscrew the top of the mailbox to get inside of it. And then lifts the head of it up and then she realizes that the envelope has fallen to the bottom. So now she has to go through all the mail and try and find the one with her information on it. She begins by taking all the letters out and putting in one pile and starts to read the names. After about an hour, she finally finds her envelope, and she goes home and leaves the mail on the floor, and the mailbox broken.
ReplyDeleteThe next day she gets a knock on her door. She normally doesn't think anything of it. So, she opens the door. The police are at her door, and they say, "are you sarah." She responded, "yes." They say, "you're under arrest for vandalizing public property." She is in shock but gets arrested and doesn't put up a fight with the police.