Human life has no price, but businesses throughout history have tried to put one on it. The latest round of selling oneself is now in the field of genetic data, which companies are storing and trading with everybody they think they can make money from. Contrary to the non-disclosure statements where data is claimed to be protected, the fact is that an army of lawyers exists to ensure all possible legal loopholes are exploited and in addition, if a company is actually caught committing a crime, that they pay a small fine and nobody goes to jail.
The American consumer, being the often-milked cow that he enjoys being, is also willing to sell his genetic data to people who abuse it to make money for themselves at a low prices. According to a new survey from New Scientists magazine, more than half of Americans would sell their genetic data for less than a hundred dollars.
As consumer genetic testing has risen in popularity, awareness of the value of genetic data has lagged behind. A survey of people in the US has found that 50 per cent would hand over their genetic data for $95 (£70), on average.
Forrest Briscoe at Pennsylvania State University and his colleagues surveyed more than 2000 people about the use of genetic data, which can be stored in databases for police use, at direct-to-consumer genetic test firms, and for medical research. (source)
Genetic and other biometric information is sometimes required for jobs. Most of it is not.
This is just another form of the commodification of human beings, which will be abused and people harmed, with little to no penalties for the corporate world, as to them it is simply business as usual.