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Genetic sharing site openSNP to shut down, citing concerns of data privacy and ‘rise in authoritarian governments’
The open source repository of genetic data will delete its banks of data on April 30, its co-founder confirms.
News of openSNP’s shutdown comes in the wake of 23andMe filing for bankruptcy protection, intensifying concerns that the company’s vast banks of customers’ sensitive genetic data will be sold to the highest bidder, who may not adhere to 23andMe’s privacy commitments. “I don’t think it’s a stretch to worry about how genetic data might be soon abused to make false claims about a variety of topics, effectively bringing back a darker eugenics age,” he said. “Alongside the larger conversation about the impact of genetic data in the context of 23andMe’s bankruptcy, we decided that it’s time to pull the plug,” Tzovaras told TechCrunch.
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