Genetic sharing site openSNP to shut down, citing concerns of data privacy and ‘rise in authoritarian governments’

OpenSNP, a large open source repository for user-uploaded genetic data, will shut down and delete all of its data at the end of April, co-founder Bastian Greshake Tzovaras has confirmed. In a blog post, openSNP’s Greshake Tzovaras attributed the decision to shutter the site due to concerns of data privacy following the financial collapse of 23andMe and the rise in authoritarian governments around the world. Founded in 2011 by Greshake Tzovaras, along with Philipp Bayer and Helge Rausch, openSNP became an open and public repository for customers of commercial genetic testing kits, including 23andMe, to upload their test results and find others with similar genetic variations. The site had close to 13,000 users at the time of its closure announcement, making it one of the largest public repositories of genetic data. Since its founding, openSNP has touted its contributions to academic and scientific research, and identified more than 7,500 genomes. News of openSNP’s shutdown comes in t ... Read full article.