The Initiative Aimed at Securing Personal Genomic Data
Marks the Start of a Revolution
If you’ve signed up for 23 and Me, Ancestry.com, or other DNA testing services, then you have in most cases given them permission to sell your data to others and didn’t even know you were doing it. You paid them to test and deliver a report on you DNA, but did you realize that they were making more money off of your data from selling their products and services to you?
To be fair, these companies offer a way for you to opt out of selling your data, but the process can be confusing to say the least.
One of the big companies went so far as to tell users that their data may be used by university researchers to help cure diseases and then stated “We have not sold or provided your genetic data to insurers, employers, or third-party marketers”, but what they don’t tell you is they may have sold your data to drug companies, research companies, and universities.
Do you really want your most private data in the hands of companies that may not be open and forthright about how they are using it? How could you ever rely on them not to violate your trust and sell your data later to the highest bidder no matter the reason for its use?
One of the big DNA sellers in the market has even patented the ability to create designer stem cells for fertility clinics from DNA data. They say they haven’t used the patent yet for that purpose, but how can you be sure they won’t use it later or if they are acquired, that that company will not use it?
When a company makes more money off of selling your data than they do from providing you a service, then you and your DNA data are their product. In your mind, you are a paying customer, however in their business model, once they have delivered what you paid for, you become a supplier of their most valuable commodity; your DNA data. Hence, their interest lies in selling you much more so than in protecting you. EncrypGen has developed a solution to these problems, using blockchain technology and the fundamental approach that you should own your DNA data and that only you have the right to determine how it will be used and whether or not you or anybody else should profit from it.
The Growth of Genomic Data
The pace of innovation in genetics research is staggering. Weekly we learn of yet another advance towards curing disease, understanding human development, and predicting individual health patterns. As the amount of information we can gain from individual DNA strands increases, so too does the need to ensure the security of this data.
EncrypGen is working to provide customers and partners next generation blockchain security to protect, share, and re-market genomic data. By empowering scientists, businesses, and individuals to securely and efficiently search, store, and share genomic data, EncrypGen hopes to help deal with the disruption to follow as these technologies find currency.
Personal “genomics companies” have sold an astonishing number of DNA testing kits to millions of Americans and the data derived from those kits can reveal insights as to a person’s ethnicity, familial connections, and genomic makeup.
It’s not much of a leap to wonder if all this genetic data, collected from medical testing devices and ancestry tests might contribute to the sort of medical renaissance generated by geniuses like Gregor Mendel, who is widely credited with discovering the fundamental laws of genetic inheritance.
Now imagine that the large-scale capability to aggregate and examine millions of people’s genomic data could be monetized. The actual makeup of your very being as an individual could be bought, sold, and manipulated by third parties without your consent – or even your awareness of the event.
That’s not just a dream – or nightmare – scenario; it’s a current reality.
