This is part 1 of a science fiction/technology/know your rights series of blog
posts. The following is a true story. For this post I want you to use
your creativity and write a paragraph about what you think happens to
Sarah next. It can be anything you want based upon the information you
now have about Sarah.
Sarah hovered over the mailbox, envelope in hand. She knew as soon
as she mailed off her DNA sample, there’d be no turning back. She ran
through the information she looked up on 23andMe’s website one more
time: the privacy policy, the research parameters, the option to learn
about potential health risks, the warning that the findings could have a
dramatic impact on her life.
She paused, instinctively retracting her arm from the mailbox
opening. Would she live to regret this choice? What could she learn
about her family, herself that she may not want to know? How safe did
she really feel giving her genetic information away to be studied,
shared with others, or even experimented with?
Thinking back to her sign-up experience, Sarah suddenly worried about
the massive amount of personally identifiable information she already
handed over to the company. With a background in IT, she knew what a
juicy target hers and other customers’ data would be for a potential
hacker. Realistically, how safe was her data from a potential breach?
She tried to recall the specifics of the EULA (end-user license agreement), but the wall of legalese
text melted before her memory.
Pivoting on her heel, Sarah began to turn away from the mailbox when
she remembered just why she wanted to sign up for genetic testing in the
first place. She was compelled to learn about her own health history
after finding out she had a rare genetic disorder, Ehlers-Danlos
syndrome, and wanted to present her DNA for the purpose of further
research. In addition, she was on a mission to find her mother’s father.
She had a vague idea of who he was, but no clue how to track him down,
and believed DNA testing could lead her in the right direction.
Sarah closed her eyes and pictured her mother’s face when she told
her she found her dad. With renewed conviction, she dropped the envelope
in the mailbox. It was done.
What happens n3xt?
https://blog.malwarebytes.com/101/2018/11/dna-testing-kit-companies-really-data/
The guy who comes to deliver the mail collects the mail that Sarah has placed in the mailbox and delivers it to the company 23andMe. When 23andMe got the DNA they tested it to see who has the same DNA as her so they can find her her ancestors where since that is what she wanted to know in the first place. A few days later she got the results in the mail. She went out to the mailbox scared to open it at first but soon after she opens it she pulls out an envelop with the name 23andMe on it and when she finally opened it she finally understood the ancestry of the family.
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ReplyDeleteSarah gets results in the mailbox a week later and opens it excitedly, ripping the the envelope. She read through everything, even the letter where it thanked her for sending in her DNA. She looked at her family tree and was amazed at how big it was. Sarah looks over it again and sees her grandfather. Sarah recognizes his name and realizes that her grandfather was the owner of a huge business that her family has kept a secret until she turned 15.Happy with the results she got back, She and ran to her mother showing her the results she got from 23andme.
ReplyDeleteSarah continuing thinking about her decision she walked away unsettled. Knowing that she was unsure she ran back to the mailbox trying to get the envelope out but it was to late. She couldn't reach her hand into the mailbox. She tried but luckily the mailman came and opened the mail box to get the mail. She told him what happened and he let her grab her envelope. She quickly grabbed it ran home lit a match and burned it. She didn't want anyone to find it so she burned it. She was in such a rush that she burned her hand by accident. Luckily she was ok but she still has the burn mark of what happened that day to never be forgotten.
ReplyDeletesarah finds her mothers father(grandfather) and she completes her goal and she feels guilty or has second thoughts on who she shared her private information. She was happy to find her grandfather and she felt a little guilt. The though of having her private information tampered with haunted her day and night. Eventually she forgot about it and realized the damage was already done.
ReplyDeletewhat i think happened was that a few days later she got her results and she was shocked. and after a week of contemplation she decides to start looking for her grandfather. she when she finds him, she finds that he is a millionaire from Thailand. after she finds out she wants to know more so she goes to Thailand to try and meet him.
ReplyDeleteSarah received the data a few weeks later and she was so excited to show her mother. When Sarah drove over to her mother's house, she was listening to Green Day and she was contemplating on what her mother was going to say, but by the time she did, she ended up at her mother's door. She then knocked it twice, and her mother opened it swiftly. " What is it dear?" asked her mother. " Mom, I have the results! I think I can find your dad!" said Sarah excitedly. Her mother did not look pleased.
ReplyDeleteI think that sarah will find out something terrible and it will really impact her life like when she found out she had a rare genetic disorder,Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, but this time she is all alone so she won't have somebody to be there with her when she receives the results back.But she knew what was at stake with handing over her own DNA to some company,because someone could tamper with her DNA and give her false results about what she could possibly have or could possibly get.
ReplyDeleteAfter Sarah drops her DNA test she goes home and waits and waits. Everywhere she goes she thinks about her DNA being locked up in a lab being experimented. In the next 3 weeks she gets an email from 23&Me to find out that her DNA had been "lost" in the lab, but she accidentally gets an email from a company that is happy that "she" sent her DNA. 23&Me lied to Sarah about losing her DNA.Sarah instantly gets scared and anxious. She goes to her insurance company and she went to her lawyer to sue the company.
ReplyDeleteSarah went back home and she got on the phone with her boyfriend. She was explaining how she felt and didn't want to leave her boyfriend alone in Arizona if she had family in a different state. She wanted to feel confident in herself if she was doing the right decision for herself. Two weeks later, she got a email about her results. She threw her phone down and ran around the whole house in happiness, but fear. She got her phone and she opened the email. They found matches of a family. They were located in California, so she felt good about that part. They were known for their reality TV show from years and years back. Her mother was Kim Kardashin and her father was Kayne West. Sarah couldn't believe what she was reading with her own eyes. It was so unreal to her. Her mother and father were going to pick her up on a private jet to their house. She started packing her bags and went to her boyfriends house to say her last goodbye after probably awhile to see him again.
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ReplyDeleteShe didn't know what to do she called her best friend asking for advice.Sarah was going to have a melt down, pasting her self back and forth around the house. She told her friend how she's related to Barack Obama. Sarah was going on and on how she was his long lost sister, she remembered when they were drifted apart as their family was coming into america from Haiti. The moment strikes her as a traumatizing moment, she always had dreams about Barack but never knew why, and till this day she found out that maybe she was getting a hint to something new in life. Sarah didn't know who else to tell or ask for advice, her best friend wasn't cooperating with her because she couldn't understand the anxiety she was feeling within her. Sarah finally called the white house, she made an appointment to meet with her brother and confront him about this situation. The next day arrived and as she entered Barack's office she got up and hugged her so tight, as if he knew her already, before she can get a word out, Barack started crying and said "i missed you so much sister, your safe now"
ReplyDeletethere was no way to go back, the man who works collecting the letters would pass that afternoon, so she was desperate with the result and at the same time anxious to know about her health history. So she calmed down a week later she gets the results, stays for a while watching and then decides to open it, and finds out everything about her family and her health history and is so impressed.
ReplyDeleteAfter she was done picturing her parents, she called them and said that she really wanted to meet them. She called them, they told her the location, and she went to wherever they told her to go. Sarah said "I need to get a rocket ship in order to get there." This is located on another planet. As she arrived to mars, we saw a house, and a bunch of tree. She walked up to the house and knocked on the door. The people opened the door slowly, and I go in. As I come in, I see an empty house, no people in there. She walks back outside, sees no rocket ship, no people. Oh boy! She's all alone on Mars! AH!
ReplyDeleteSarah looked back at the envelope shooked. She picked it and stepped inside her house. She settles it down on the counter and attempts to comprehend what she just read. A month has passed by, Sarah apprehended a knock on the door. She unlocked the door she noticed her grandfather beaming down at her. She didn't understand what was going on considering that envelope said that he died in 2017.
ReplyDeleteAfter Sarah dropped the envelope in the mailbox, she turned and walked home, hoping she made the right choice. Three weeks passed and there was no response. On the fourth week, she heard a knock on her door. She answered it and found two police officers standing there. They explained to her that she was a suspect of a robbery that happened a week ago and that her DNA sample was identical to the robber's. Sarah claimed that she was innocent, but the police took her in for interrogation. She along with four other people were asked questions about the scene of the crime. Sarah explained that she wasn't apart of it and she didn't know what happened at the time. That was when one detective checked his documents and realized that they had the wrong Sarah. He and the other police officers apologized about the misunderstanding and offered her a ride home. She angrily declined and stormed out of the building, frustrated about the mix up and upset that she didn't get any results about her lost grandfather.
ReplyDeleteAfter she dropped the letter into the mailbox, she walked home nervously. Weeks passed and she still did not receive a response. Two weeks later, when Sarah opened her mailbox, she saw a letter from 23andMe. She ran inside and opened the letter. It said that her DNA was being used for research on the rare medical condition. Underneath that, it said that her missing grandfather had lived in Puerto Rico for a few years, but later died in 2018. Sarah called her mother immediately and told her what had happened. They both mourned his death together.
ReplyDeleteAfter dropping the letter, Sarah walked back home thinking if it was a good idea to give her DNA to people she didn't know.Then a year passed by and one day she went out to check the mail and as she opened the mailbox, there was a letter from 23andMe and Sarah quickly opened the letter and it said her grandfather had been one of the people who had died on the horrible shipwreck of the Titanic ship. Sarah ran home and showed her mother the letter that she had recieved and her mother began to weep and Sarah sat beside her mother trying to comfort her , the tears had fallen on the paper and all of a sudden everything began to disapear for Sarah and the unknown time that had passed Sarah finally opened her eyes and she found herself in a room sitting at a table , her mother sat across from her smiling and a man was sitting on the other side. Was that her grandfather?
ReplyDeleteFor the next few months Sara is anxiously waiting for results. She gets a package in the mail saying that she has to do it again. She's paranoid. She wonders why SHE has to do it again when all of her research about 23andMe says no one does it again unless there were complications. Sara was scared, she had a feeling something bad was going to happen but she felt like she was ready for the results. She waited all this time for the results and she can't look back now. She does the thing and sends her DNA back to 23andMe. Little did she know 23andMe were shipping her DNA out to laboratories to see if she was related to a guy that was on the run for killing 11 people aka her grandfather. 2 months go bye, completely forgetting about the letter two private investigators show up to her doorstep. She had no words. They said they needed to speak to her about her grandfather.
ReplyDeleteAfter Sarah dropped the letter into the mailbox, she noticed two men spying on her. They were all dressed in black and had blue shades on sitting in their car. They followed her, but however Sarah ran to a police station. Sarah sat down and described the incident to the police men. Two weeks later, mail arrives in Sarah's mailbox. She sees a letter and is frightened on what it says. The letter says "we are coming for you." She thinks its a prank so goes to sleep. Sarah herd a cracking on her window and wanted to investigate. She saw the two men in black in her house, she screamed in agony and then they shot her.
ReplyDeleteAfter waiting a few weeks, Sarah checked her mailbox one day and she got the results.The papers told her about her great-uncle having Ehlers-Danlos syndrome,and found out that her grandfather was still alive and that they found where he is.Now all she had left to do was to convince her mother who was downstairs who hated his guts to try and find him."This will be fun", she said to herself as she started to head downstairs.
ReplyDeleteAfter 3 weeks of waiting Sarah finally received her results from 23andMe in the mailbox. She hurriedly opened the mail and was shocked by the results. The results showed that her rare disease Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome would last a lifetime, but she had a long life expectancy compared to the average person with the disease. She also found out that her grandfather had died because of the same disease she was suffering from. She immediately called her mother to tell her the news.
ReplyDeleteAfter Sarah dropped that letter into the mailbox, there was no turning back. She had to try not to think about it or she would spiral. She put it out of her mind until exactly two weeks later, when she hurriedly checked the mailbox to see if her results were back. They were. They said that no DNA match could be found for her grandfather, almost like he didn't exist. Sarah didn't believe it for one second, but what could she do?
ReplyDeleteAfter a couple weeks of waiting for her DNA test results it finally arrived . she was very nervous to open the test results and see what was about to unfold about her life. would everything change forever ? There could potentially be a match to finding her family or there could be no match & it would all be in that one envelope . she was very indecisive , everything would unfold . she grabs the envelope and embraces it into her arms . she finally gets the courage to open up the envelope , she can hear the paper start to unfold and her heart starts to race . she was ready , when she finally read the paper she was relieved , there was absoloutley nothing bad on the report . In fact she was kind of shocked to find out she had more family she never knew existed . but now she was determined to find her newfound family members.
ReplyDeleteThe letter arrives to the company and get all the information that they needed from her. Sarah started to get impatient because weeks had went by and she hadn't heard anything from the company. She tried emailing them but no reply. She wanted to keep it as a surprise for her mother but she was getting worried so she talked to her mom about it. Her mom told her that she heard a lot of bad reviews from that company and that they scam people. A few more weeks went by and Sarah got so worried that she ended up calling the police, and reported the company.
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