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Stop Giving Your DNA Data Away for Free to 23andMe, Says Genomes.io CEO
What is the value of DNA data?
According to genetic testing companies like 23andMe and Ancestry.com, it’s worth much more than might be expected.
The global market size of the DNA sequencing industry was estimated to be over $10 billion in 2023, while leading consumer provider 23andMe took in nearly $300 million in revenue.
However, what most people don’t realize is that the real core business model of companies like 23andMe is not the sale of personal DNA testing kits — it’s the sale of their customers’ genetic data itself.
These companies keep and sell their users’ genomic profiles to pharmaceutical companies and other researchers, while the users themselves get none of that revenue, nor any say in whether they want their data sold in the first place.
Impact of Covid Lockdowns to Disrupt England’s Schools Into the 2030s, Report Says
Repairing the damage to children’s education caused by the pandemic lockdowns and closures will disrupt England’s schools until the mid-2030s, according to a new report.
The analysis, published by the Association for School and College Leaders (ASCL), forecasted that the after-effects of the pandemic will hit schools in a series of waves, with different age groups requiring varying solutions for their problems with learning, behavior and absence.
Tim Oates, the report’s author and an expert on assessment, said: “While secondary schools are reporting an increase in reading difficulties among year seven pupils, poor personal organization and challenging patterns of interaction, staff in primary schools are reporting very serious problems of arrested language development, lack of toilet training, anxiety in being in social spaces, and depressed executive function.”
Oates said it was a mistake to think schools have returned to pre-pandemic normality that ignores “the massive scale and enduring persistence of COVID-19 impact in education”.
Recovery “will be a long slog, not a walk in the park,” requiring “protracted, grinding effort” and cooperation between schools, parents and the government, he added.
The Battle to Ban Screens From School Now Includes Chromebooks and Tablets
The Wall Street Journal reported:
Parents worried about how much time students spend on iPads and laptops during school are trying to opt their kids out of classroom tech.
They’re finding it isn’t easy.
Cellphone bans are taking effect in big districts across the country, including Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The next logical question, at least for some, is: What about the other screens?
These concerned parents argue that the COVID-era shift that put Chromebooks and tablets in more students’ hands is fueling distraction more than learning.
Teachers and school systems point to the ease of online instruction and say switching for just one student puts a burden on teachers.
Tech is woven so deeply into lesson plans and assessments that students using only pencil and paper would be at a disadvantage, they add.
TikTok’s Possible Ban Is Losing American Support, Survey Finds
Americans are less supportive of a possible TikTok ban than they were 18 months ago, according to a new survey ahead of a government deadline next year to force a sale or bar the app from U.S. users.
Just 32% of U.S. adults back a TikTok ban, according to survey data from Pew Research released Thursday. Pew found that 38% of U.S. adults supported a ban last fall and 50% were in favor in March 2023.
Meanwhile, half of Americans now doubt TikTok will be banned at all, calling it “very or somewhat unlikely.”
The survey showed that many Americans have shifted their stance on TikTok in the past year and a half, including over the past five months since President Joe Biden signed a law that requires TikTok’s Chinese-based parent company, ByteDance Ltd., to divest its ownership in the app or face a ban in the country.
U.S. lawmakers said they feared potential privacy and security issues related to TikTok’s Chinese ownership.
The survey didn’t ask respondents why their opinions had changed.
Meta Claims Another ‘Error’ After Conservative College’s Second Complaint About Facebook Treatment
“Facebook is at it again,” according to one private college in Michigan.
Last month, Facebook shut down Hillsdale College’s online courses page the same day the school launched a course critical of communism and Marxism.
On Thursday, Hillsdale posted to X that the social media platform issued a warning for those searching for the college’s online courses page.
“Facebook is at it again,” Hillsdale College posted on X. “Anyone who searches for Hillsdale’s online courses page on Facebook sees a warning that they might be searching for terms associated with drug dealers.
While we don’t deal in narcotics, our online courses are mind-altering. The first one is free! (And every course after that, too.)”
Google Is Facing Another Crucial Court Case in the US – and It Could Have Major Consequences for Online Advertising
One month after a U.S. court ruled Google had illegally maintained its monopoly on internet search, the tech giant will this week face the start of yet another important antitrust case.
This new case is focused on Google’s online advertising business, which last year brought in more than $200 billion.
The U.S. Department of Justice, along with 17 states, claims Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has monopolized multiple digital advertising technology products by neutralizing or eliminating its competitors.
The department says this “has caused great harm to online publishers and advertisers and American consumers.”
Google has denied this claim.
For Security, We Have to Stop Picking up the Phone
How do you know that the person on the other end of a phone call is really who they say they are?
Earlier in July, a Ferrari executive was flooded with a barrage of WhatsApp messages that appeared to come from his boss, the carmaker’s CEO, Benedetto Vigna.
But the Ferrari executive didn’t recognize the number, and he couldn’t be sure it was really his boss.
If you think the Ferrari executive is a rare edge case for scammers, think again.
For as long as we’ve had telephones, there have been people trying to trick someone into thinking they’re someone else.
Now, as with the case of the attempt against Ferrari, voice AI tools make it so that scammers can clone someone’s voice and trick victims into thinking they’re talking to another person.
All of these attacks involve the phone, or rather, picking up a phone call. Once you pick up the call, scammers and fraudsters can use tactics designed to pressure and force you into acting quickly and hastily in a high-stress situation.
