A genome blogger manifesto

Genome blogging refers to the sharing of experiences, results and data relative to a person’s genome. Normally, the information shared belongs to the blogger him/herself, but at times it belongs to other people (related or not) who provide their explicit consent to share personal data and views. Genome blogging has established itself in recent years as a vibrant online community, particularly after the availability of affordable direct-to-consumer (DTC) personal genomic tests. A number of public resources have been developed embracing a spirit of openness when sharing or discussing personal genome data. The Personal Genome Project (PGP) [1] has been a pioneering initiative, sharing genomes for research in a clinical setting. SNPedia [2] is another important resource supporting personal genome annotation. More recently, openSNP [3] has been developed as a central repository of personal DNA genomics with inbuilt capabilities for annotation.Reasons why people may want to share personal genomic information vary. These include a) philanthropic reasons, b) interest in discussing specific results, and c) exposing the data freely to new potential analysts. This latter motivation justifies genome sharing, considering that no DTC report encompasses all available knowledge present in the scientific literature. It still remains unknown however, the extent to which genome sharing may negatively affect an individual. There is a perceived risk that it may engender genetic discrimination, loss of personal privacy or even identity theft.Although no formal document has been produced to date on the core values inspiring personal genome sharing through blogging, a set of consensus rules driving it could be made explicit. Here I present a first attempt in writing a genome blogger code of conduct. These are not fixed values, on the contrary, I expect these to develop as the debate evolves. I base some of the ideas below on Marcus Wohlsen’s ‘Biopunk’ book [4], Meredith Patterson’s ‘biopun