Considering one of the hacker's first actions was to offer for sale data identifying people of Jewish or Chinese descent I think that's a very valid concern.
Did anybody actually buy it though? This could be misdirection, or just misguided marketing based on historical instances of abuse. China isn't known for trying to repatriate descendants, and it's not exactly difficult to find Jews.
Ancestry data would certainly be of interest to a particular demographic known to discriminate by caste. There's no escaping your low-class heritage when anyone can look up your stolen DNA profile on the black market.
Really? As a 25% jew whos genetic data was probably just stolen, I'd like to disagree with that statement. I don't harbour any stereotypical jewish phenotypes, and don't self-identify as a jew, but who knows if someone else decides to do that for me.
It doesn’t matter if it got bought because it’s indelibly available forever now. It’s now available to someone who shouldn’t have it whenever they come around with the intent to misuse it.
And the choice to share or protect this information just got taken away from every one of their customers forever.
I have no idea what "it's not exactly difficult to find Jews" means. It struck me as kind of an icky thing to say, so you might want to clarify the benign intent you had for saying it.
Ancestry data would certainly be of interest to a particular demographic known to discriminate by caste. There's no escaping your low-class heritage when anyone can look up your stolen DNA profile on the black market.