
Show HN: Free genetic reports from your genome - Beefin
https://meports.com
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ajiang
Uh...I'm definitely not sharing my genome data with some guy named Ethan at
unnamed company.

[https://meports.com/privacy](https://meports.com/privacy)

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Beefin
Valuable comment. How would we convince you that the genome file is not stored
beyond the report generation process?

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themoat
Honestly, short of me building and running the code on my personal machine, I
don't think there's any way I'd trust you on your word.

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flipp3r
I don't understand why you have your privacy policy as it is right now, at
all.

 _Privacy is important to us. We want to do it right. (...) At no time is your
DNA data shared - or sold - to any external party, period. (...) If a genome
is uploaded, but the user does not continue and generate a report, the
uploaded genome is automatically deleted immediately. As soon as a report has
been generated (no more than 10 minutes) the uploaded genome is deleted._

Wow! A company that isn't out to steal your data! Great!

 _When using Meports you are uploading your genome to our central website for
analysis. (...) By uploading your genome you grant us a temporary, limited,
revocable, royalty-free, world-wide license to process and use your genome for
the purpose of providing you with the service._

 _" Vision: We believe in using data and software in order to maximize
everybody's quality of life. "_

(Actually - you even have a different company "vision" on gene.meports.com.
Which one is it?)

So what does this mean then? Are you using the word "analysis" to trick people
into thinking you don't store data derived from the genome on your servers,
but you're not storing the literal file someone is uploading? While, at the
same time, reassuring clients you'll never store or sell their data?

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klmr
Not sure I understand your concern: It’s standard boilerplate for the case
where private data is required to run an analysis, but is not otherwise used.

Not saying that it should necessarily be trusted but the wording isn’t
problematic. What _is_ problematic is the complete lack of legal security.

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ajiang
Definitely not boilerplate. The privacy policy is quite light, doesn't define
terms like "external parties", doesn't even have the company's name or origin.

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klmr
I was talking specifically in the context of OP’s comment. I otherwise agree
with you. But the wording that OP seems to complain about simply means that,
in order to perform the requested analysis, the company needs to temporarily
store your data.

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Beefin
I don't see any other way to do it haha

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nickthegreek
[https://gene.meports.com/report/2347380d-ac31-4f4a-b973-6e18...](https://gene.meports.com/report/2347380d-ac31-4f4a-b973-6e18ff4c05a3)

sample report lists GBA under Gene column. I click link, get sent to wikipedia
entry for Game Boy Advanced...

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Beefin
Hahahaha, looks like the disambiguated Wiki page is more relevant:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GBA_(disambiguation)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GBA_\(disambiguation\))

and the gene:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glucocerebrosidase](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glucocerebrosidase)

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chris_mc
I don't even see a name of the creator on this site. Personally, I won't ever
submit personal genome data to an anonymous site like this, and no one else
should either. Aren't there also legal implications to hosting personal health
data online like this? I understand they claim to delete the data after the
processing, but can we really trust an opaque process like this?

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Beefin
My name's Ethan, you can email me at ethan@meports.com and my personal website
is ethansteininger.com. All open !

What aspects of transparency would you be looking to learn more about in order
to grant more trust?

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nickthegreek
I think the biggest concern that people might see is how are you making money.
With promethease, we give them a small amount of money. People are going to
assume that the only way to generate income on this project is the selling of
user data or keeping it to build a database to use for analysis and then
selling that data.

This site could use a bit more information about how the analysis is being
done and what benefits it offers over similar sites.

~~~
Beefin
Great feedback, I appreciate it. Our office's page is how we make money.
Offices embed the button on their webpage and receive your report upon which
they're able to prescribe certain preventative plans.

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karambahh
Looking at the OP history, they only ever posted content related to
meports.com.

Judging by the titles of the submissions and on content archived by the
wayback machine, meports was originally intended to be a "life dashboard"
(mood, workouts, etc..) and pivoted approximately a year ago towards its
current form, a meta analysis of genome.

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Beefin
Yep, it was a pivot. Is there something wrong with that?

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fudged71
No judging here. I'm curious why you pivoted away from health tracking?

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Beefin
I wanted to do something that had larger humanity potential. IMO human
genetics is a top 3.

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Thespian2
No indication of how this site makes money, nor who they are. I would be
_very_ suspicious.

~~~
Beefin
Fair enough, the offices page (custom report generation for offices) is our
revenue model: [https://meports.com/office](https://meports.com/office)

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k__
Does this mean, you don't store or distribute my DNA, but the risks you
calculated from it?

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Beefin
The risks are stored, but deleted after 48 hours.

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hughes
Who's running this? What country are they based in? Why should I trust
meports.com not to misuse my genome?

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Beefin
I'm running this - based in US. That's a great question and I'm open to ideas.
How can I prove that the genome file isn't stored beyond report generation?

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hughes
Hi, thanks for replying! I think the only way would be to make this a client-
side application somehow. This is extremely sensitive data, so the only way I
can trust that you'll never misuse it is if I never give it to you in the
first place.

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i_am_nomad
This looks like it might need FDA approval.

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Beefin
How is it any different than Promethease from an FDA perspective?

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byproxy
Tangentially, what does this offer that Promethease doesn't? I ask because
I've run genomic data through Promethease and I'm wondering if running through
your service would be redundant.

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Beefin
Yeah it would be redundant. the call to action once you generate a report is
to send it to your provider.

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k__
Is this safe?

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Beefin
Define safe haha. The genome doesn't stay on our servers for more than 5 mins.

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cryoshon
can't get it to use any data sets that i have in the normal .vcf formats, etc

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Beefin
What testing providers share your raw genome in an .vcf format?

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searine
Nobody shares your genome.

Promethease though allows for gvcfs and other formats so that you can upload
more comprehensive sequencing data with full coverage.

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Beefin
Maybe I should've rephrased... my question is which genetic testing providers
give you a raw genome file in .vcf format? If none then I think we're talking
about two different things.

[https://customercare.23andme.com/hc/en-
us/articles/212196868...](https://customercare.23andme.com/hc/en-
us/articles/212196868-Accessing-and-Downloading-Your-Raw-Data)

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searine
23andme is casual genetics, and misses a lot of the variants that are
important clinically. These ancestry sites are the entry point, but not the
definitive answer.

SNP chips are on the way out and whole genome/whole exome are becoming much
cheaper. For many people (myself included) who are trying to diagnose a
disease or understand our personal genetics at a base-pair resolution then VCF
is the standard format.

Ancestry and 23andme use proprietary formats but all independent
labs/clinics/commercial operations use VCF and it is the format that patients
will have. If a patient is dropping a grand or three to get their personal
genome, they are going to be receiving the raw data in VCF or BAM.

As a side note, your site asks if people "had their genome sequenced" but
23andMe results aren't a genome. It is a peek at a fraction of the genome.
Your site doesn't accept whole genome data.

Also, if by "offices" you mean doctors offices or any kind of medical
professional, then you are putting them at risk. Variant calls delivered to
patients from a medical professional need oversight. Calls need to be made in
a CLIA laboratory and pass through a genetic counselor. It is fine to skirt
regulations if an individual is analyzing their own genome, but once you
insert a third party, then you are bring in legal issues, reporting issues,
and HIPAA issues.

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calvano915
Your comment was very insightful. I've considered 23andme and similar services
before, and it is helpful to understand that a fractional amount of one's
genome is all that is provided/analyzed. I'm excited to see that whole
sequencing has broken the $1000 barrier some time ago, and was available
recently for $200 as a promotion! ([https://www.wired.com/story/whole-genome-
sequencing-cost-200...](https://www.wired.com/story/whole-genome-sequencing-
cost-200-dollars/))

