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Man Open Sources His Genetic Data
An anonymous reader writes "Manu Sporny, founder and CEO of Digital Bazaar, has decided to use GitHub to store a very interesting project. Rather than a piece of software, he is listing his own genetic data as an open source project. He has released all his rights to the data and made around 1 million of his genetic markers public domain. As to why he decided to do what many may feel is a risky sharing of data so personal and unique to himself, Manu explains: 'I've thought long and hard about each of those questions and the many more that you ask yourself before publishing this sort of personal data. There are large privacy implications in doing this. However, speaking solely for myself, I think the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.' Manu hasn't gone into great detail as to his thought processes yet, but promises to on his blog at a later date."
I've been offering my DNA samples for at least 20 years now.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
Where do we file bug reports?
It's always confirmation bias!
He's going to find himself running over and over again in emulators in about 50 years.
"Your Honour, my client wasn't sexually assaulting the alleged victim, he was merely Open Sourcing his genetic data."
Trolling is a art,
how long before some calms a IP rights to part of the data and sues him?
Well, you could argue that anyone has the right to do this, but his DNA sequences will also be fairly close to his relatives DNA and you could probably make some assumptions about them and their predilection to certain diseases or whatever.
I wonder if he asked for his relative's permission?
While I can't actually speak for him, I have a pretty good guess at what he's doing.
He's establishing his DNA as "prior art".
Anyone who tries to patent some element of DNA (and there's plenty who will try to) now has a rather significant obstacle to overcome, especially since at least 99% of DNA is the same between people.
He's not "open sourcing" anything. He's publishing data about his genetics, not any source. He likely doesn't have the ability to modify the "source" to make improvements or changes to the system, or to release a newer version with intentional, controlled changes (as opposed to the normal genetic lottery which is procreation).
Add features that his users really want, like razor-sharp talons, wings, and burning laser X-ray eyes. I think that the future will be really interesting.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
His parents are going to get him for derivative works.
Why do people treat genetic data as though it's the most confidential document in history? It's just a long string of base pairs, amirite?
Can we upgrade our calcium bones to a stronger metal?
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
Clearly his parents hold rights and previous art.
Spot the patented genes!
Reality is in fact, Virtual
For those not wanting to find it in the sea of links, Github DNA Source
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. -- Isaac Asimov
If you actually implement anything using his genome you may be on the hook to pay licensing for the runtime.
Can we upgrade our calcium bones to a stronger metal?
How about, just to any metal?
-- "The Price of Freedom of Speech, of Press, or of Religion is that we must put up with a good deal of rubbish."
There's a Makefile in the source. I assume it's a symbolic link to the kamasutra.
WTF am I doing replying to an AC at 5 A.M on a Friday night?
Please merge with me! git pull https://github.com/nportman/dna
Downloading a copy of his source, splicing in your own code, throwing in a few random unintentional changes, and spending the next several years bugfixing, tweaking, and adding features? ...I think they already have a word for this, and it's almost, but not quite, "forking."
A read about this a few days ago. Someone already did a fork and issued a pull request.
https://github.com/msporny/dna/pull/1
You mean, like the metal calcium?
Check your periodic table. It IS a metal.
This space available.
Maybe put his code out there because he knows his DNA might be found in connection with a murder investigation.
When his DNA is found on the scene of a crime he can claim someone must have fabricated it and put it there...
He open sourced his genetic data all over the Internet.
I'd prefer immortality for the original.
http://raines.wustl.edu/~anthro/articles/jensen2005intellectual.pdf
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
Haven't some genes been patented during the past years? How about the legal consequences of open sourcing these genes, which are part of his DNA?
-- Cheers!
Hours after Joseph Pickrell put his genome on the internet, an anonymous blogger took the data and concluded that he came from Ashkenazi Jewish stock. Pickrell, a genetics graduate student at the University of Chicago, Illinois, was sceptical about the claim. But after talking to relatives, he discovered that he had a Jewish great-grandfather who had moved to the United States from Poland at the turn of the nineteenth century. "It was a part of my ancestry I was totally unaware of," he says. The blogger, who writes under the pseudonym Dienekes Pontikos at http://dodecad.blogspot.com/ had commandeered Pickrell's DNA as part of the Dodecad Ancestry Project, an ambitious project in which cutting-edge genomic analysis meets Web 2.0. Pontikos analyses genetic data submitted by followers of his blog to reconstruct personal ancestry and human population history — and reports his findings online. He is part of a small but growing group of 'genome bloggers', a mix of professional scientists and hobbyists proving that widely available tools for computational biology could enable recreational bioinformaticians to make new discoveries. "They are not amateurs. They are far from being amateurs," says Doron Behar, a population geneticist at Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa, Israel, who studies human history. "I cannot stress enough the level of appreciation I have for their efforts." Pontikos has so far analysed several hundred thousand single-letter DNA variations from more than 2,200 individuals. That includes more than 200 submitted to him by readers of his blog, who had had their genomes analysed by genetics testing firms such as 23AndMe, based in Mountain View, California, with the remainder coming from publicly available datasets. The readers volunteering their genomes (identities stay private) are mostly keen to delve into their own ancestry. But Pontikos, who is from Greece and describes himself as an "anthropology dilettante", is more interested in unfurling the history of populations that tend to be overlooked by human-population geneticists. For instance, his analysis of genomes from people living in northern Eurasia reveals a genetic connection between populations in northern Finland and central Siberia (see 'Meet the ancestors'). David Wesolowski, a 31-year-old Australian who runs the Eurogenes ancestry project (http://bga101.blogspot.com), also focuses on understudied populations. "It's a response, in a way, to the lack of formal work that's been done in certain areas, so we're doing it ourselves," he says. Wesolowski and a colleague have drilled into the population history of people living in Iran and eastern Turkey who identify as descendants of ancient Assyrians, and who sent their DNA for analysis. Preliminary findings suggest their ancestors may have once mixed with local Jewish populations, and Wesolowski plans to submit these results to a peer-reviewed journal. But Pontikos sees little point in formally publishing his findings. "I can bypass them entirely, and have the entire world review what I write," he wrote in an e-mail. Indeed, comments on his blog — "could you please provide the eigenvalues for the principal component analysis", for instance — read like the niggling recommendations of a manuscript reviewer. ...
Maybe he is opening his genome to anybody who wants to study it. Since it is the only Open Source genome, I'm sure there will be plenty of research, and he could benefit from it (not financially, but it's a nice relief to be assured that you can not have alzehimer, diabetes or whatever.)
In soviet russia the government regulates the companies.
But in our bones it's calcium oxide.
-- Cheers!
step 1 - buy video game and install it
step 2 - load your sequenced genes
step 3 - play the game as yourself
Probably a while, but it's definitely possible. Michael Crichton wrote a rather dull book on the issue of corporations copyrighting DNS sequences:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next_(novel)
If it's IP, though, I'd like to point out the fact that you can't sue anyone for playing the twelve-bar blues in A because it's a traditional piece. Maybe this guy will become a 'traditional' DNA number.
I'm going to make a change and issue a pull request!
I'm not happy with the way he manages his DNA. I think I'll fork it.
keyboard not found! press any key to continue...
Does that mean our bones are rusted metal?
and he's hoping that in the event his dna isn't naturally replicated, someone in the future will be able to clone him.
Wow, according the data at offset 78934568917, he has a propensity for very small genitalia.
Next was about patenting, not copyrighting, gene sequences. Copyrighting a gene sequence would make it illegal for carriers of that gene to reproduce. Patents make it illegal for anyone to make money using that gene. And the trick with genes is that one does not patent the DNA at all, but the RNA, which is the 'negative' of the DNA sequence. The RNA is artificially produced, thus an invention. And to do any work with a sequence of DNA you always need RNA, so patenting the RNA gives the same result as patenting the DNA (which no-one does because even Texas judges are not that stupid) would.
If you're going to use terms like "IP", which is little more than a trick for confounding patents with economically sane forms of exclusion, please at least don't confuse copyright and patents (and ship hull designs and plant variety rights and trademarks and domain names and trade secrets, which are all forms of "IP").
My blog
Create a "tail" branch. Hopefully it'll be merged with master in a couple million years. Insert further distributed project management jokes here.
What about people writing custom literature in their DNA?
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
The creator of git bisect will win the Nobel
Don't you lose your proprietary rights over your genetic material if you give away free samples? I've been giving them away for years and I can't be surprised should a recipient have them sent to a lab and tested. I've never requested an NDA be signed by any women.
Assuming that anyone has default proprietary rights over this information opens up some interesting questions about everything from paternity testing to the possibility of a DMCA takedown notice should someone make an unapproved copy of my genes (in the form of an unwanted pregnancy she is unwilling to terminate).
Have gnu, will travel.
Does that mean our bones are rusted metal?
Rusting happens to ferrous materials such as iron, so our blood is rusty metal.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
OK so I didn't pay attention. Like I said, the book was dull.
Another significant difference between IP and patents is that patents typically expire whereas IP rights may not, if owned by a corporation -- or at least that's my armchair lawyer's understanding. Feel free to pedantically correct me again.
Now everyone can make more humans. Oh, wait...
Why do people treat genetic data as though it's the most confidential document in history? It's just a long string of base pairs, amirite?
You could extend the same logic thus:
What's the problem if we convert linuxgeek64 into motor oil and lawn fertilizer? It's just a bunch of chemicals mixed with water, amirite?
PGP did it first.
As of now, he's got already 26 forks, so he's been cloned several times.
But what will be impressive is having merges (via pull requests) accepted into the master branch. Crowd-sourced gene therapy (or mutation) anyone?
var sig = function() { sig(); }
I don't know if it was pedantic. From my understanding, GP was pointing out that as long as the guy doesn't try to make money off of his sequence, he can't be sued. If it was copyrighted, they could sue him for thousands of times its actual value e.g. p2p.
Interesting proposition, especially considering that we bond fluoride with our teeth using toothpaste and other methods.
Several medicinal corporations have patents involving our genes, he is violating those patents.
If a million monkeys get their DNA sampled, do we get to read Shakespeare?
actually mostly calcium phosphates, mostly hydroxyapatite.
it's called "impregnating his sister or mom" followed by parenting.
If I copyright my genetic data, can I sue my kids for copyright infringement?
Or sue my wife for copying?
My condolences Mr Sporny.
His post was definitely informative so I don't mind the pedantry which I detected in the section reading "please at least don't confuse copyright and patents...etc.". It's not so much a genuine plea as a hint of patronizing irritation followed by an ostensible clarification which is not clear at all. I appreciate the corrections. I'll tolerate the tone as long as I'm permitted to be snarky about it.
I just wonder who's gonna get commit rights. And if Sporny is ready for people rewriting his DNA to fix perceived performance or security problems.
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
All ferrous materials are iron.
Seriously.
The article states that he released his data into the public domain. That is far from open source - which requires reciprocal agreements.
Monsanto already owns the copyright to your DNA, especially if your parents lived downwind from a Roundup-ready cornfield, or if you ate any Taco Bell brand taco shells.
If some guy is open sourcing his DNA and his Slashdot ID is under, say, an arbitrary number that makes me look good, he has no cred.
His DNA sequence will also be fairly close to any ethnic group to which he belongs.
Thanks to DNA sequencing, it is known that Jewish women of Central and Eastern European origin have a higher than normal risk of getting breast cancer.
Should every one's right to information be limited by whatever group feels their "privacy" rights are more important?
...hell, even health insurance, if some forces in this country were to get their way.
Captcha: consent
I can run his code on my pet turtle. Man.
All genetic data is public domain*. You're merely the temporary custodian of your particular permutations, combinations, and mutations.
* yes. I know it probably isn't in a legal sense - but I've yet to see a convincing explanation of why it shouldn't be. We don't earn it or create it. We just pass it on or not.
if he's attempting to block some future 'corporation' trying to patent another piece of dna, well done!!!!!
Because anyone would guess his bank account password matches the first 5 markers? Medical info, ok sorta, but otherwise I'm missing the privacy issue here that could be exploited. Then again: " From:pharmco... Re:your genetics... We see in your genes you are due to have "performance" issues soon. Order your v14gra today! "
Why, oh why, didn't I take the Blue Pill?
You can no more offer as open source (nor patent as closed source) a genome as you can a fingerprint. They are merely observed, not created.
Doesn't this leave a rather broad attack surface?
Humans ship with open ports, a trivially transversable firewall and a malicious package can be installed before our anti-virus even spins up. A malicious individual could tailor some ransomware to be lethal in less time than it takes to sequence and neutralise the virus.
He's practically handing over his root password!
Since a DNA sample is sequence tolerant, meaning it can occur just about anywhere in a DNA strand, trying to claim industrial-style ownership becomes damn near useless.
Researchers can claim that the sequence is open source and, apart from the portions that are unique to a specific individual, they'd be right.
Its also a means of giving himself immortality in the minds of all genetic researchers.
The name Manu Sporny may not roll off of the tongue as trippingly as Monsanto or Merk, but I'm already thanking him.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
All we would need is complete neural map of his brain and way to clone him and imprint that neural map intot he cloned brain and we could essentially duplicate this guy.
Since his "source" would be GPL, does that mean anyone could enslave him after cloning him????
Tsukasa: All I really want, is to be left alone...
Since his source code is open sourced, can we remove his Y chromosome and duplicate the X chromosome and clone an army of sexy playboy bunnies off his genetic code?
I wonder what hoops you have to jump through to get that to compile.
Tsukasa: All I really want, is to be left alone...
This is the worst open source code I've ever looked at, it's a mess of spahetti code, full of kludge after kludge. There's no commenting and most of the code doesn't seem to do anything, there are functions that haven't been used in literally millions of years. Talk about bloat!
How this stuff compiles and runs I don't know, it's clearly NOT intellegent design!
After logging in slashdot still does not take you back to the page you were on. It's been that way for 20 years.
a ha ! am i the only one who read "man open sources his own genitals" ?
i was going to have to RTFM on that one !
Wait - Not metal - Why not bones made from some kind of really neat carbon nanotube matrix. More flexible, lighter, and stronger than the Man of Steel.
Something like "spornygraphene" spun into "spork" composite structures ... (grin)
DarkStarZumaBeachSurfinApocalypseWow
Craig Venter and James Watson both had their complete genomes sequenced (not just an arbitrary collection of a million markers) and placed in the public domain years ago.
Well, he only had six days to write it. There wasn't any time left to design. We're all lucky it compiled at all.
An appropriate name, Manu the progenitor of mankind donates his genetic legacy to mankind.
The main difference between patents and copyrights is the type of work they apply to, not whether money is made or not.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Michelle Mone, the founder of the Ultimo brand, said: "We've given this a lot of thought, but there's a point where a business must stick to its principles and as a brand that targets young women, we feel it is impossible for Peaches to continue to work with us as the face of Miss Ultimo lingerie." The Miss Ultimo range is geared towards women aged 18 to 25. Geldof is thought to be currently in Los Angeles. http://lingeriebras.net/ http://lingeriebras.org/ http://lingeriescorset.net/ http://lingeriescorset.org/ http://sexylingeriecorset.org/ http://sexylingeriecorset.net/ A lawyer for the model and socialite has denied the reports of drug-taking, saying Geldof was drunk. Jonathan Coad said in a statement: "The allegations that our client was carrying and injecting heroin are denied, our client having consumed alcohol with the other individual leading to the "highs" described and portrayed in the photographs." Storm, the model agency, said it had no plans to drop Geldof from its books. Geldof, the daughter of Bob Geldof, divorced rock musician Max Drummey after a six-month marriage last year. They married in secret in a drive-in ceremony in Las Vegas after a 10-day romance.
apart from all possible views at opensourcing your own dna,
it just looks like a piece of really good PR to me.
(See title). Or maybe the Galapagos Islands?
Dose it mean his son/daughter has to open genetic data too?
Everyone who is in Harvard's Personal Genome Project has the option to post their genetic code online. They have about a dozen so far, and I'm in the bracket of the first 1k volunteers.
Out of curiosity, given the possibility that his data might now be used as a baseline for genetic patches in future decades, this is one way to pass on at least part of his genetic information to potentially millions or billions of future humans. It's kind of the technological version of having a ten-thousand-strong harem, without all the hassle of upkeep and servicing costs. :)