linkstream2 microblog

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But it’s the very specificity of genomic data that threatens privacy. Although most genomic databases strip away any information linking a name to a genome, such information is very hard to keep anonymous. “I’m not convinced you can truly de-identify the data,” says Mark Gerstein, a Yale professor who studies large genetic databases and is a fierce privacy advocate. He is concerned about whether even the most cutting-edge protections can safeguard personal data. “I am not a believer that large-scale technical solutions or ‘super-encryption’ will solely work,” he says. “There also needs to be a process for credentialing the individuals who access this data.”
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Threats to privacy could multiply once there is an active market for genetic data. Wood speculates that it could be valuable to life insurance companies, which could use it to raise your premiums; or it could become a tool for those who want to prove or disprove paternity. White nationalist groups, who have become preoccupied with genetic testing, might find a way to weaponize the ancestry data the tests can show. It would not be the first time genetic information was used against a race or races. “Genetics has a very troubled history, from Darwin on,” says Yale’s Mark Gerstein.
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Yet Columbia’s Yaniv Erlich and others, including Church, fear differential privacy could compromise biomedical research, with smudged data making it harder to get clear results. Mark Gerstein at Yale believes that scientists would be better off testing hypotheses on small amounts of publicly available but pure data, even if it’s not representative of the overall population, rather than using larger quantities of imperfect data.
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Is Genetic Privacy a Myth?
http://protomag.com/articles/genetic-privacy-myth
Genetic tests and genome sequencing are generating terabytes of sensitive private data. How can they be kept safe?

http://www.mhumbert.com/publications/oakland17.pdf

Identifying Personal DNA Methylation Profiles by Genotype Inference

Michael Backes⇤, Pascal Berrang⇤, Matthias Bieg†, Roland Eils†‡, Carl Herrmann†‡, Mathias Humbert⇤, Irina Lehmann§

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/10/09/200147
higher order markov to predict snps

https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/21/16343304/uber-location-tracking-opt-out-apple-ios11

#AI just made guessing your password…easier
http://www.ScienceMag.org/news/2017/09/artificial-intelligence-just-made-guessing-your-password-whole-lot-easier rather Number cracked raises #security/#privacy concerns HT @Rozowsky

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The new study aimed to speed this up by applying deep learning, a brain-inspired approach at the cutting edge of AI. Researchers at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey, started with a so-called generative adversarial network, or GAN, which comprises two artificial neural networks. A “generator” attempts to produce artificial outputs (like images) that resemble real examples (actual photos), while a “discriminator” tries to detect real from fake. They help refine each other until the generator becomes a skilled counterfeiter.
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http://links.e.lastpass.com/ctt?kn=1&ms=NTQ4ODM4MTcS1&r=MTk4NDYzMjg3MDcwS0&b=0&j=MTI0NDc3NjcwMwS2&mt=1&rt=0

https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com/

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As you may have heard, Equifax, one of the three largest credit monitoring bureaus in the U.S., announced a data breach at the company that may have affected 143 million U.S. consumers. The breach included social security numbers, birth dates, addresses, credit card numbers as well as other personal information.
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Sampling DNA From a 1K-Year-Old…Manuscript
https://www.theAtlantic.com/science/archive/2017/08/the-secret-life-of-illuminated-manuscripts-as-told-in-dna/536172/ As reported from a unsubmitted preprint. Pot. #privacy implications

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Remarkably, the authors say they extracted all this DNA without destroying even a tiny piece of parchment. All they needed were the crumbs from rubbing the book with erasers, which conservationists routinely use to clean manuscripts. The authors report their findings in a preprint that has not yet been peer-reviewed, though they plan to submit it to a scientific journal.”
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Identity Thieves Hijack Cellphone Accounts to Go After Virtual
Currency https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/21/business/dealbook/phone-hack-bitcoin-virtual-currency.html Problematic #privacy loophole w/ #2factor

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“Hackers have discovered that one of the most central elements of online security — the mobile phone number — is also one of the easiest to steal.
In a growing number of online attacks, hackers have been calling up Verizon, T-Mobile U.S., Sprint and AT&T and asking them to transfer control of a victim’s phone number to a device under the control of the hackers.
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.@JulianAssange, man w/o a country
https://www.NewYorker.com/magazine/2017/08/21/julian-assange-a-man-without-a-country/amp Eisenhower: “If you can’t solve a problem, enlarge it.” Now applied to @WikiLeaks

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Dwight Eisenhower is said to have once declared, “If you can’t solve a problem, enlarge it.” Assange had taken a personal legal crisis and blown it up into an international incident: he had teleported himself from the mundane into the tragic realm. A number of WikiLeaks volunteers urged him to step down until
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There have been calls for his assassination, and for him to be given a Nobel Peace Prize. Assange often describes himself in simple terms—as a fearless activist—but his character is complicated…
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A Data Broker Offers a Peek Behind the Curtain: site listing what’s compiled about you
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/01/business/a-data-broker-offers-a-peek-behind-the-curtain.html MT @robert_schiff #privacy

site = http:aboutthedata.com