• 0 Posts
  • 24 Comments
Joined 3 years ago
cake
Cake day: August 12th, 2022

help-circle



  • Was in the market for a new phone and was thinking of getting the latest Pine phone, and upon research, I found that like others have stated, it is more of a piece of kit to tinker with and not a daily driver. The OS is still being baked and at the current rate it might take a few years before it is as responsive and as useful as Android is day in, and day out. There is just no contest. Which was a bit disappointing as I actually though the OS was far more developed.

    I do hope that progress is made, but, if you need a phone that works well, then stick with Android for now. Hardware on latest Pine is better than on the first phone but still Mid, at best, and it is not cheap for the hardware you get.




  • We Went to Greenland to Ask About a Trump Takeover - POLITICO

    "U.S. interest in Greenland remained the stuff of private, long-range government planning until news broke in August 2019 that Trump had become preoccupied with the idea of buying the island.

    The idea reportedly sprang from a conversation with Estée Lauder heir Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, though a person close to Lauder said that notion of an outright purchase originated elsewhere. “Lauder never said to buy Greenland,” said the person, who was granted anonymity to discuss a private conversation. Instead, the person said, Lauder merely told Trump it was “in our interest to engage more, have deeper ties.”"



  • Thanks for the link. We may be slightly speaking past each other. On one hand, the link you sent is of course, correct. I had read that before and is not that I did not believe that the GDPR would include it, more so on not fully trusting 23andMe to comply.

    What you may be overlooking is that in the real world, possible buyers will have access to data as part of any Due Diligence terms, whether they purchase or not. In a perfect world it should not change things but in practice it can, or does. Apparently, that bit I quoted earlier was a very recent update to their T&Cs, as they are protecting themselves for any future lawsuits. Also, I just do not trust 23andMe to have your best interest at heart and to fully comply with privacy issues at the current time, either due to willful BS or mistake. It might just not be a priority. The whole thing could collapse tomorrow, but they are still full on taking people’s money. Any promise of compliance are just words at this point. I have known enough large companies collapse to see this as no different. GDPR or not. On a privacy concern, is not as if they asked everyone who is blood related for any consent, either.

    This was releseased not to long ago, so the USA Feds are not really confident, either:

    oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-urgently-issues-consumer-alert-23andme-customers

    ag.ny.gov/press-release/2025/attorney-general-james-urges-23andme-customers-contact-company-delete

    But on paper, I agree that Europeans seem to have sturdier protections. Albeit Americans may have more legal options. Cheers and hope they fully delete your data without any BS. .






  • LOL I told everyone the same. Same on my end, they thought I was being conspirational. As if a company could never one day fail and have to sell their assets. It seemed impossible to them, somehow.

    I used to think that part of the reason is that they submitted their samples without thinking and later contemplating how not smart that action was; created some hard cognitive dissonance, making calling me a conspiracy theorist the far easier pill to swallow than admitting a mistake. Since I know of people who did it early on, as they thought they were being cutting edge at the time.

    Yeah, I do not want to buy a car either or anything that sells in subscriptions. I am already keeping an eye on models of non-smart TVs for when my current model finally dies. LOL



  • Uh… nope. Sorry. They specifically touch on it:

    “Commonly owned entities, affiliates and change of ownership: If we are involved in a bankruptcy, merger, acquisition, reorganization, or sale of assets, your Personal Information may be accessed, sold or transferred as part of that transaction and this Privacy Statement will apply to your Personal Information as transferred to the new entity. We may also disclose Personal Information about you to our corporate affiliates to help operate our services and our affiliates’ services.”

    If you request to delete your data as per the GDPR, they will delete some data, but as per their legalese they will not delete all and what is not deleted falls under their Privacy Statement, where you find the above, quoted text. Worth noting that in above the use of may in practice means “will”.

    On top of that, once the data is out of the the EU, which they make a point to state numerous times, they rely on the DPF which focuses on how data is used or transfered to outside the EU. So, if a company is already signed to the DPF, then they can totally keep some of your data as well. Or if they transfer it using it the same framework. So the DPF does not help either. The GDPR focuses on common identifying information, off the cuff it does not seem to address the notion of how DNA can literally be used for exactly that, so, legally, as it stands the DNA data is out of scope of the GDPR. Or, at least that is what they seem to be claiming, indirectly.

    So yeah, you can delete some data, but with a bunch of asterisks followed by that statement. So, sadly, your argument is not fully correct. They will delete some identifying information. But they seemto keep the most important of the data.




  • Why would anyone expect anyone to risk getting sued or risk going to jail for that? Fully get want you are saying, though.

    The smart thing was to never trust some random upstart company with a cutsie name with the code of our literal DNA. Caveat emptor and all that.

    So much wrong can be done if it ends up in the wrong hands in any of a multitude of sectors, from military contractors to insurance companies who could literally up premiums based on DNA profiles and propensity for illnesses. And that latter one would be one of the most docile of outcomes.