{"id":230503,"date":"2025-05-08T09:49:56","date_gmt":"2025-05-08T09:49:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/alabama\/alabama-bill-criminalizes-genetic-theft-protects-dna-privacy-rights\/"},"modified":"2025-05-08T09:49:56","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T09:49:56","slug":"alabama-bill-criminalizes-genetic-theft-protects-dna-privacy-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=230503","title":{"rendered":"Alabama bill criminalizes genetic theft, protects DNA privacy rights"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">As biometric data becomes an increasingly valuable asset, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed a bill to make \u201cgenetic theft\u201d a crime.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Under House Bill 449, sponsored by Rep. Ben Robbins, R-Sylacauga, individuals who sell or transfer someone else\u2019s DNA without their consent to a third party could be charged with a Class C felony, carrying a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Submitting a DNA sample for testing without the individual\u2019s consent, obtaining someone\u2019s genetic material for analysis, or sharing their genetic information with a third party would constitute a Class D felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $7,500.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Additionally, accessing a person\u2019s DNA for analysis or retrieving genetic data from a computer database without authorization would be classified as a Class A misdemeanor, carrying a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a fine of up to $6,000.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The legislation arrives when popular services like 23andMe and Ancestry.com have prompted widespread public participation in at-home DNA testing, raising alarms about privacy and future misuse of genetic data. Robbins referenced the recent bankruptcy of 23andMe and the uncertain fate of its users\u2019 data and emphasized that other jurisdictions, notably Florida, have already taken steps to criminalize unauthorized access to genetic information.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The committee debated various hypotheticals, including both malicious and commercial exploitation of DNA, and raised concerns about insurance discrimination, envisioning a future where access to genetic information could be used as a tool to market product to consumers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cIf we know from your genetics, you might be predisposed to a condition or you have an underlying genetic marker for that condition. Well, now a marketer or a company could market products to you and take advantage of having that information. We\u2019re talking about medical-grade data being private, and it shouldn\u2019t be out on the market,\u201d said Robbins.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-6\" style=\"margin: 8px auto; text-align: center; display: block; clear: both;\">\n<div class=\"zox-post-ad-wrap\"><span class=\"zox-ad-label\">Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lawmakers questioned the need for this bill, as many aspects were easily misconstrued or repetitive, given federal restrictions already in place.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In response, Robbins noted that current federal protections, like HIPAA, only cover medical entities, and not private companies that handle genetic material.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cWhen I use my phone, for instance, and that tracks my sleeping patterns, or it tracks my heart rate, that\u2019s medical-grade data, but it\u2019s not protected by HIPAA because it\u2019s owned by a private entity,\u201d said Robbins. \u201cWhat I\u2019m trying to say with this bill is anything that is that genetic data, that genetic material, is now protected, in essence.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, said he believed that it was important to have a law like this on the books preemptively.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cAs the world changes, people up to no good will find ways to use information like our DNA\u2026 If we don\u2019t put the parameters out there, that means this is the Wild West and everything goes,\u201d said Orr.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 1 -->\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As biometric data becomes an increasingly valuable asset, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed a bill to make \u201cgenetic theft\u201d a crime. Under House Bill 449, sponsored by Rep. Ben Robbins, R-Sylacauga, individuals who sell or transfer someone else\u2019s DNA without their consent to a third party could be charged with a Class C felony, carrying [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":230504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11763],"tags":[33526,68526,12750,6795,85859,19482,7467,85857,13325,85858,10492,46876,13922,10349],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-230503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alabama","tag-2025-legislative-session","tag-23andme","tag-alabama","tag-bill","tag-criminalizes","tag-dna","tag-genetic","tag-genetic-material","tag-privacy","tag-privacy-rights","tag-protects","tag-rep-ben-robbins","tag-rights","tag-theft"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Alabama bill criminalizes genetic theft, protects DNA privacy rights - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=230503\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alabama bill criminalizes genetic theft, protects DNA privacy rights - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As biometric data becomes an increasingly valuable asset, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed a bill to make \u201cgenetic theft\u201d a crime. 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