In LA Times Op-ed, Professor Bala Details Risks of Sharing DNA Data Online

The implications of genetic data breaches are staggering, Professor Nila Bala writes in an Oct. 21 Los Angeles Times op-ed headlined “The risks of sharing your DNA with online companies aren’t a future concern. They’re here now.”

Bala discusses recent, worrisome developments with the DNA testing and matching websites 23andMe and GEDmatch and calls for stronger governmental regulation of unsafe data practices.

“This should include strict oversight of sharing with third parties, such as data brokers, that currently get a pass to purchase and resell our information to the government and others,” Bala writes. “Even for those who have already taken genetic tests, robust regulations could prevent their data from being exploited in unforeseeable ways, including those enabled by new technology.”

Nila Bala joined the faculty at UC Davis School of Law in 2023. Her research focuses on children’s rights and the criminal justice system, as well as emerging technologies. Her recent scholarship has appeared or is forthcoming in the Michigan Law Review, Boston College Law Review, the Federal Sentencing Reporter, Duke Law and Technology Review, and the New York University Review for Law & Social Change, among other journals. Her essays for broader audiences have appeared in the New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, Slate, Newsweek and elsewhere.