Posts Tagged ‘privacy’

HeLa Cells Contaminating Other Cell Lines

August 21, 2013

Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2009 Sep;133(9):1463-7. doi: 10.1043/1543-2165-133.9.1463.

Henrietta Lacks, HeLa cells, and cell culture contamination.

Lucey BP, Nelson-Rees WA, Hutchins GM.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19722756

Article: The biggest threat to the genomic revolution? Spying scandals

August 14, 2013

The biggest threat to the genomic revolution? Spying scandals — pro #sharing with few #privacy worries editorial http://fw.to/aLba6TX

==
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/the-biggest-threat-to-the-genomic-revolution-spying-scandals/article13531705

The human genome contracts again

August 13, 2013

http://bioinformatics.oxfordjournals.org/content/29/17/2199.short?rss=1

Links related to the “HeLa Deal”

August 10, 2013

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, the Sequel – NYTimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/24/opinion/sunday/the-immortal-life-of-henrietta-lacks-the-sequel.html

NIH makes privacy agreement with Henrietta Lacks’ family
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/sciencefair/2013/08/07/henrietta-lacks-nih/2627923

Blood ties : Nature News & Comment
http://www.nature.com/news/blood-ties-1.13513

A Family Consents to a Medical Gift, 62 Years Later – NYTimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/08/science/after-decades-of-research-henrietta-lacks-family-is-asked-for-consent.html

Deal done over HeLa cell line
http://www.nature.com/news/deal-done-over-hela-cell-line-1.13511

NIH director explains HeLa agreement : Nature News & Comment

August 10, 2013

http://www.nature.com/news/nih-director-explains-hela-agreement-1.13521

Coming Soon: Take Your Own Personal Data to Market | MIT Technology Review

August 10, 2013

New site for selling your personal data for discounts — perhaps this could be applied to #personalgenomics
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/517356/if-facebook-can-profit-from-your-data-why-cant-you #Privacy

Reputation.com says it’s ready to unveil a place where people can offer personal information to marketers in return for discounts and other perks.
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/517356/if-facebook-can-profit-from-your-data-why-cant-you By Tom Simonite on July 30, 2013

Reuters Next — For Henrietta Lacks’ famous cells, new and unique protection

August 9, 2013

http://preview.reuters.com/2013/8/7/for-henrietta-lacks-famous-cells-new-and-unique-1

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/07/us-science-hela-idUSBRE9760YD20130807

QT:"

The decision applies only to researchers funded by NIH, which said it
"encourages" other scientists to abide by the agreement. Because
DNA-sequencing technology is cheap and ubiquitous in genetics labs,
the HeLa genome has been partly sequenced many times, and can easily
be fully sequenced again.

"Sequencing" refers to determining the precise order of the chemical
letters on a person’s genome, which is the full library of his or her
genetic information. Bits and pieces of that sequence spell out, for
instance, whether someone is at risk of diabetes or Alzheimer’s or
other genetic traits, as well as personal traits like the consistency
of ear wax.

These loopholes in the access agreement significantly weaken the NIH
move, said Mark Gerstein, a computational biologist at Yale University
who has raised concerns about threats to genetic privacy. "I doubt NIH
will get blanket agreement from scientists in every country" to follow
its protocol, "so it’s not clear what the agreement will be able to
accomplish."

"

Reuters Next — For Henrietta Lacks’ famous cells, new and unique protection

August 9, 2013

http://preview.reuters.com/2013/8/7/for-henrietta-lacks-famous-cells-new-and-unique-1

QT:”

The decision applies only to researchers funded by NIH, which said it “encourages” other scientists to abide by the agreement. Because DNA-sequencing technology is cheap and ubiquitous in genetics labs, the HeLa genome has been partly sequenced many times, and can easily be fully sequenced again.

“Sequencing” refers to determining the precise order of the chemical letters on a person’s genome, which is the full library of his or her genetic information. Bits and pieces of that sequence spell out, for instance, whether someone is at risk of diabetes or Alzheimer’s or other genetic traits, as well as personal traits like the consistency of ear wax.

These loopholes in the access agreement significantly weaken the NIH move, said Mark Gerstein, a computational biologist at Yale University who has raised concerns about threats to genetic privacy. “I doubt NIH will get blanket agreement from scientists in every country” to follow its protocol, “so it’s not clear what the agreement will be able to accomplish.”

PwdHash

July 20, 2013

http://crypto.stanford.edu/PwdHash

U.S. Postal Service Logging All Mail for Law Enforcement – NYTimes.com

July 13, 2013

on mail covers program :

Not just electronic comm. surveilled: Tracking postal metadata similarly to NSA email snooping http://bit.ly/15oZmNs via
@michaellawcarl

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/04/us/monitoring-of-snail-mail.html

QT:”
Mr. Pickering was targeted by a longtime surveillance system called mail covers, a forerunner of a vastly more expansive effort, the Mail Isolation Control and Tracking program, in which Postal Service computers photograph the exterior of every piece of paper mail that is processed in the United States — about 160 billion pieces last year. It is not known how long the government saves the images.

Together, the two programs show that postal mail is subject to the same kind of scrutiny that the National Security Agency has given to telephone calls and e-mail.

The mail covers program, used to monitor Mr. Pickering, is more than a century old but is still considered a powerful tool. At the request of law enforcement officials, postal workers record information from the outside of letters and parcels before they are delivered. (Opening the mail would require a warrant.) The information is sent to the law enforcement agency that asked for it. Tens of thousands of pieces of mail each year undergo this scrutiny.