Google Accused of Bio-piracy

Simon Phillips writes "ZDNet is reporting that Google has been accused of being the 'biggest threat to genetic privacy' this year for its plan to create a searchable database of genetic information. From the article: 'Google was presented with an award as part of the Captain Hook Awards for Biopiracy in Curitiba, Brazil, this week. The organisers allege that Google's collaboration with genomic research institute J. Craig Venter to create a searchable online database of all the genes on the planet is a clear example of biopiracy.'"

May I suggest....

[Mattygfunk1]

Gnetics?

Torrents.

[LiquidCoooled]

OK, if theres piracy going on, wheres the torrent stream?

What do Bio-pirates say?

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess they're after some Yarrr-NA.

Ouch, sorry about that :)

Re:Yup. Sounds to me...

[networkBoy]

Best explanation I could think of as well.
I read this and said WTF?
then I read teh story and said WTF?
then I read your comment and said Ahhh!
-nB

DRM my ass

[Karoshi]

One day, I won't be allowed to take a dump 'cause I forgot to renew the license to use my biological disposal unit.

Two days early

[Theovon]

Looks like one of the April fools stories slipped in a bit early.

People leave their DNA and finger prints wherever they go, and the law is clear that whatever you leave behind is up for grabs. Where is the piracy in making an online searchable database of public-domain information?

Re:Bio-piracy?

[RevDobbs]

No worries, dude, everyone knows that Ninjas are Pirate's natural enemies, and those Code Ninjas at Google are top notch.

Re:DRM my ass

[TopShelf]

Leaving a dump in the can is fine, but I would think that taking someone else's dump would clearly be biopiracy...

Re:Stupid.

[Irish_Samurai]

I think I already own that patent. Dihydromonoxysomething or other. I don't know what it's called, my lawyer told me to do it.

I give google full permission

[mseidl]

Ok! Being that I have several genes in my body, which I own thank you very much. I give google full permission to index these for others to search. You see people in Brazil - I own the genes in my body, fully. Google is not "pirating" anything.

Torrent stream

[jfengel]

In my pants.

[Apologies. Crude, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity.]

Re:May I suggest....

[Anonymous Coward]

or how about... gNome?

Bio-piracy?

[Anonymous Coward]

What the hell does that even mean? If I understand correctly, "bio-" means "animals", and "piracy" means "stealing".

So Google is stealing animals.

Back home we call that rustlin', pardner.