DNA-Based Advertising Redefines Commercial "Ad-Targeting"

An anonymous reader writes: Hidden among the customary disclaimers about how the website intends to use the information it holds about you, ancestry.com states that it reserves the right to leverage the genotyping tests of users (who have contributed their DNA to AncestryDNA research) in order to serve back 'relevant' advertising via the site. Critics of the clause believe that the site's promise to delete a user's genome on request is devalued both by the possibility of data breaches and by the fact that data brokers and other third parties are both unlikely to honor (or even know about) removal requests, and are likely to improve at leveraging genetic information in the future.

Comments

The ultimate identity theft!

[PolygamousRanchKid]

1) Tell a person that he might be a descendant of ancient Irish Kings.
2) Collect a DNA sample to verify.
3) Clone the person, from the DNA sample.
4) Kill the original person, and replace him with the clone.
5) Instruct the clone to change his last will and testament, leaving all his wealth to you.
6) Kill the clone, making it look like an accident.

Business is business

[Earthquake Retrofit]

Identifying people genetically predisposed to be suckers is the bread and butter of business. Getting them to pay for the privilege of being taken to cleaners is icing on the cake.