If you were born in California since 1983, the state owns your DNA.
The data of every Californian born since that year is kept in a bland office building in Richmond, a city located in the eastern section of the San Francisco Bay Area.
That data's not just passively kept, mind you: it's also being sold, to third parties, for research purposes, according to CBS local station
KPIX.
That biometric data, taken by a heel prick at birth to screen for
80 hereditary diseases, represents a wealth of information on an individual, from eye and hair color to pre-disposition to diseases such as Alzheimer’s and cancer.
Besides being sold - in purportedly de-identified form - to third parties, it's also available for law enforcement requests.
