Image credit: Vikrum Lexicon
Manu Sporny reflects on one week of being in the public domain in terms of personal genomics. I already pulled down his data, as has Zack. The whole post is fascinating, but this is really interesting: “I found out that it’s illegal to send any of your genetic material outside of Russia to have it analyzed.” In a related vein, seen Dr. Daniel MacArthur’s When “Cautious” Means “Useless.” I know that 23andMe is a for-profit business in it to make money for its backers, but there are certainly huge social spillover effects among my set in its bringing 500,000 to 1 million markers to the masses. It’s a clear concrete case of how innovation can result in positive gains across society. I am not a knee-jerk libertarian, but your genetic data is your genetic data. Own it, analyze it, and claim it!