Privacy in the Genomic Era

Upload Yourself

In relation to an upcoming series of releases on PAN, the artist & composer Lars Holdhus (TCF) will be having his whole genome sequenced - to be available for download as raw data (150gb) as a Bittorrent archive. The archive will be free to use and exploit without restrictions. Following the decision to release his genome, Lars invited Sam Hart, a bio-informatician and editor of the online magazine Avant.org, to work in technical consultancy and collaborate in the publication of the genome.

While making one’s genome available is neither conventional nor recommended practice, the body perpetually sheds personal material, genetic or otherwise. In the near future, we might expect advertising, insurance, and other information technology industries incorporate biometric data into consumer analytics. As such collection is folded into a regime of ubiquitous sensing, and embraced by private and state actors, the cultivation of an informed public discourse regarding the various uses of personal information will be fundamental to the preservation of civil liberties.