Unfortunately, the Return Policy on This Is Pretty Stiff

This holiday season, why not give a gift that keeps on giving — to genomics research, that is. Over at Technorati, William Murakami-Brundage says that "declaring your genome open-source … would be making an ultimate, amazing gift." While he acknowledges that there are several groups currently working on large-scale personal genomics projects, Murakami-Brundage also says that these initiatives may be too small in scope, since they appeal — primarily — to those with ties to the research. "By opening the project to any and all interested contributors, the sheer data-pool would be immense and invaluable," he says. Not only does "genomic crowd-sourcing" provide participants with a feeling of personal liberation, Murakami-Brundage suggests, it also throws a wrench in the "tangled schema" of gene patenting. "After all, the basis of open-source copyright is the fundamental right that everyone is entitled to the work in question, even when dealing with the font of life," he says.