Billings Rep. Wants to Protect DNA

Q2 reports Billings Republican State Representative Daniel Zolnikov wants Montanans to be able to determine whether their DNA is shared with advertisers. So, in the upcoming legislative session, Zolnikov will propose a bill that will allow you to choose whether to share your DNA. Zolnikov says each time you take an online ancestry test or use facial recognition software on a cell phone, you share what’s called biometric information with the world– valuable information to advertisers, political campaigns and marketing companies– and it can be shared, often times at a substantial price. Vera Eidelman, a fellow with the American Civil Liberties Union’s Project on Speech, Privacy and Technology, says in a Washington Post op-ed that our DNA holds deeply sensitive family-related biometrics and giving away that data exposes deeply personal, confidential information. Get the story online at; KTVQ.com.