China Wants Your Data — And May Already Have It : NPR China Is Stealing Your DNA With Home Ancestry Kits

As COVID cases began to rise a year ago, a Chinese company contacted several U.S. states and offered to set up testing labs. As a byproduct, the Chinese firm, Beijing Genomics Institute, would likely gain access to the DNA of those tested.

The offer was tempting for states struggling to set up their own testing facilities for a new virus on short notice. But U.S. national security officials urged the states to reject the offer, citing concerns about how China might use personal data collected on Americans.

"We certainly reached out to our partners and the community to make sure people were aware that the Chinese were pushing out these tests, informing them of what the risks were and really asking them not to take these tests," said Mike Orlando, the head of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, which is part of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

"As far as I know, they all turned them down," Orlando added.

Meanwhile, Beijing Genomics Institute, a major global player in the world of genomics research, reportedly set up labs in at least 18 other countries, and provided COVID testing kits to 180 nations, including the U.S. The U.S. officials stressed that their main concern was preventing the establishment of full-service labs. The officials do not consider the testing kits to pose a serious risk.

Biotech companies in China, the U.S. and elsewhere routinely collect DNA data and use it to help guide the development of cutting-edge medicines that can benefit people worldwide. And BGI says it abides by all the laws in countries where it operates.

However, human rights groups say the Chinese government uses DNA testing for security purposes — such as identifying and tracking Uigher Muslims, the ethnic and religious minority whose members are being held in detention camps, in huge numbers, in western China.

Chinese police are also working to gather DNA samples from the country's male population — numbering roughly 700 million — to help keep tabs on the half of the population most likely to commit crimes, The New York Times reported last year.

A sweeping effort

U.S. officials add that DNA collection by Chinese companies, even when done openly and legally, should be seen as part of a comprehensive effort to vacuum up millions and millions of records on U.S. citizens. And many Chinese efforts violate U.S. law, the officials say.

"Most Americans have probably had their data compromised by the cyber intelligence units of the Chinese government and Chinese military intelligence," said April Falcon Doss who worked at the National Security Agency and wrote the book Cyber Privacy:Who Has Your Data And Why You Should Care.

Falcon Doss said China is collecting detailed personal information on a massive scale for multiple reasons: to boost its economy, advance its technology and to support its espionage efforts.

"China has really set as one of its strategic goals, trying to achieve dominance in artificial intelligence," she said. "What you need to feed artificial intelligence algorithms is lots and lots and lots of data."



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ICYMI: China Is Stealing Your DNA With Home Ancestry Kits



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