[dreamfactory]

I feel you are both missing the point that the kind of abuse we are opening ourselves up to inevitably includes catastrophic abuse as well as everyday injustices. Two examples that spring easily to mind - jury nobbling by organised crime, market manipulation by foreign powers. This is the job of government, legislation, and society, and is not within the remit of private corporations or something that can be left to a theory of market self-regulation. The example that a restaurant left to its own devices could get into collecting data so easily underlines that this needs legislative teeth.

[ewzimm]

You're right about the potential abuses. However, the only reason we have any kind of biological privacy is because the stuff we leave everywhere is too small for most people to notice. But we are not clean animals. We shed everywhere. I don't think biological privacy in the long term is a realistic goal unless we're willing to make full-body plastic suits fashionable.

More to the point, it's absolutely necessary to research this stuff. The more samples we can get out there, by whatever means necessary, the better. This kind of research will absolutely save lives, and in no small portion.

It's good to keep the security implications in perspective. However, if privacy concerns held back or halted basic research on biology, they would do more damage from voluntary and legislative protections than they are capable of doing by creating advertising profiles.

[dreamfactory]

Counterfeiting money is an example of something which is relatively easy but can be hugely damaging if done on a large scale - we try to make it harder for the casual counterfeiter but mostly we rely on draconian penalties around it precisely for this reason.

There is also an important cultural aspect that makes certain behaviours abhorrent/unacceptable that would need to be tapped into.

Research is a legitimate and beneficial activity that you would therefore expect to be licensed and controlled.