<p>Hey guys!</p>
<p>Just a heads up… Today CNN Newsroom with Don Lemon is going to mention UC Berkeley’s DNA testing. The show is on RIGHT NOW and is on commercial break. (They play reruns throughout the day, too!) They were teasing this news segment like it’s gonna happen right after this commercial break so if you can turn on CNN right now!</p>
<p>Tuned in, but it’s on commercial break. is it only a clip? or is it what the show’s focusing on?</p>
<p>They already covered it. It was pretty good. Don Lemon interviewed the Berkeley professor who is heading the DNA testing studies. Don Lemon basically tried to get the professor to admit it was an invasion of privacy but the Berkeley professor made it clear that there is absolutely no chance that any student could be linked to that student’s DNA test because samples and DNA test to student links were going to be destroyed. The professor did a great job!</p>
<p>Yeah, I missed it. Is that going to be only offered to freshmen or transfers too? Do you know? I looked it up on google and it said it was only going to be for freshmen but I read somewhere else on this board that it was going to be for all new admits including transfers.</p>
<p>They only mentioned freshman but the news tends to be pretty unspecific. I really hope we can take part in it! I’ll post a link to the video here if I can find it online!</p>
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<p>Hi Mikei,</p>
<p>Are they just pooling DNA together to look for trends in the student body? I thought they were offering to acknowledge and communicate heritability factors such as susceptibility to alcohol, etc. That would imply that they would keep some sort of connection between the student and test-- at least temporarily. Even if they destroy your sample, your privacy is at risk if they store your name/ID and test results in a database somewhere. Is the professor saying that he/she guarantees that even the database relationship between the identifier and the test will also be destroyed? When would it happen? How would you be sure? </p>
<p>I do hope you guys will keep the protection of your privacy in the forefront of your minds when you participate in this.</p>
<p>Yeah, if offered, I dont know if I would take it or not. Has anyone seen GATACA? Creepy…I would definately not want my dna to be available for ANY other reason than particular research (whether being able to tell me, or to study a trend in the student body) but I would gladly participate if the above 2 reasons were the only reasons it was used. </p>
<p>Does anyone know the laws on this? If they claim they will destroy the everything and they dont, is there any major legal recourse?</p>
<p>Isn’t this DNA test voluntary anyway?</p>
<p>James,</p>
<p>Although I’m unclear on the specificities, it seems like after they figure out the attributes of the three genes they look at, they then give you your own personal results but they destroy samples and other data that can link your specific DNA to your name or w/e. So the results of your DNA test are given to you but your actual DNA itself can’t be traced back to you. Does that make sense?</p>
<p>And yeah the test is voluntary. I really don’t know why the media is getting so excited over this! haha</p>
<p>Smartyskirt,</p>
<p>Regarding the whole destroying the DNA thing. If they tell you they will destroy the DNA then they must do it. It’s not covered in a specific law but it’s covered in the ethical considerations for this research study. (Because Berkeley is a public school and receives federal money, their studies must be done ethically [enforced by the feds] and therefore they can’t lie to you before you give your consent.)</p>
<p>I admit I may be overly wary about this, but I’m worried that your generation doesn’t protect its privacy as well as it should, quite frankly.</p>
<p>If they communicate the results of the test back to you, then they have a connection between you and that test, even if only temporary. Any link is dangerous to your privacy. You really should make sure they destroy that link after the communication is terminated. How long will they keep your results in a way they can report them back to you? 1 day? 1 month? 1 year? Definitely make sure you know before you participate.</p>
<p>Just because the test is voluntary, doesn’t mean you can’t be exploited. It just means that you are voluntarily putting yourself in a position to be exploited. You may be voluntarily submitting a sample for a purpose that seems perfectly benign, and is, but unbeknown to you your data gets sold to a third party. I wish I could say there is no precedent, but sadly data is worth a lot of money. To a large resource-expensive university being underfunded by state bureaucracy, the possibility for temptation would give me caution.</p>
<p>Please understand I’m not trying to be a jerk here. On the contrary, my warnings are because I’d prefer to not see any of you potentially put in a bad situation.</p>
<p>Oh nono, I don’t think you’re being a jerk. I think you’re completely right; we are definitely on the wrong track when it comes to privacy.</p>
<p>They did a study on privacy over the internet and they found that the reason why our generation seems to be so open about their personal lives is because when people are on the computer their minds don’t register that they aren’t alone and therefore they share things that they wouldn’t have shared had their minds registered that they weren’t alone. I don’t think it’s right that companies exploit this. I really think Facebook should not be as open as it is.</p>
<p>I should also mention this part of the study: The genes that the study is looking at are not unique to each individual. There are millions of people who share your variation of those genes. And so, all unique aspects of your DNA are not going to be linked to you. It’s like this: DNA received -> 3 non-unique genes observed -> results of 3 non-unique genes compiled -> samples destroyed -> results given to participant</p>
<p>Does that clear up any skepticism? Post your thoughts because I think your skepticism is really good haha</p>
<p>i agree with J-Ho…i like the idea when its the DNA of someone else…but my DNA? i don’t think so.</p>
<p>i like my privacy…what little is left of it after the patriot act.</p>