Loss of Privacy

Reactions are mixed to UC Berkeley’s request for incoming freshmen to voluntarily give a DNA sample to the school.

The university has said it will send test kits to 5,500 new students to analyze genes that help control the body’s responses to alcohol, dairy products and folic acid.

The voluntary tests are intended to spur conversation about the growing field of personal genomics, not predict the likelihood of disease, university officials said Thursday.

“We thought that this would be a more engaging vehicle for discussion than having them read a book or an article,” said Mark Schlissel, dean of biology at UC Berkeley.

Yes, your vehicle for discussion will be thrown back at you as most students would rather read a book or an article than have the school waste money on kits no one will use. The problem is that UC Berkeley has chosen to give the kits to impressionable freshman who may either not know it’s voluntary or think that it’s been tested before and safe. Federal regulators can’t even agree whether the over the counter test kits are safe or accurate as some haven’t been tested by the FDA.

All DNA will be collected privately, officials said. Students will use a barcode that only they have to locate their individual results, and the university said all DNA will be incinerated after the analysis is completed.

The results of the test will be put in a secure online database where students will be able to retrieve their results by using their bar code.

Ah yes, the old, “We’ll destroy the DNA, we promise,” trick. The student still needs to take the barcode to be read so they can obtain the results. What happens if someone steals the barcode or copies it?

Students also will be able to compete to win one of four much more comprehensive personal gene scans from 23andMe Inc., a Google-backed company that has been at the center of the debate over direct-to-consumer genetic testing.

So here’s the scam from the school. They get to collect and study students’ DNA and four lucky students out of 5,500 new students will win a prize.

Still, said Khoury, “if it’s packaged well, it could be a great experience.”

Yes, students. Don’t worry. We have your best interests in mind. We’re not trying to sell you a load of horse crap and call it lemonade.

There’s no mention of how these kits will be paid for. It could come from student fees, the student themselves, or the debt ridden state of California.

The story also fails to mention what is meant by confidential and private, who will have access to the data, how long the data will be kept (data being different from the actual sample), and what else the results might be used for in the future.

Hopefully, not everyone will automatically sign up for a voluntary invasion of privacy. If they do, they have no one to blame but themselves when they later find out the data wasn’t destroyed. Once the information is given, it can never be taken back.

From kvue.com

Salman Khan quit his job and started creating these videos. He’s made every single video to educate people on various subjects taught in school. This is a great example of what the internet can do. These videos are incredible, informative, and a fun way to learn.

Salman Khan (Sal) founded the Khan Academy with the goal of using technology to educate the world Sal received his MBA from Harvard Business School. He also holds a Masters in electrical engineering and computer science, a BS in electrical engineering and computer science, and a BS in mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Khan accepts donations, but someone should nominate him for a MacArthur Fellowship right now. That way, he can continue his work and still offer it free to the world.

The Khan Academy is a great place to start your learning.

In the US state of Texas, the board of education is drafting its own version of American history.

The board is changing school textbooks to correct what they say is a “left leaning” bias in education.

But some say the changes have religious and racial overtones.

As Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett reports, the group’s decisions could have a major impact on how history is taught across the US (09 April 2010).