Companies like 23andMe market their services as tools not only for gathering personal information, but also for creating social connections. In September 2008, the front page of the New York Times “Styles” section featured a colorful story about a celebrity “spit party,” hosted by media moguls Barry Diller, Rupert Murdoch, and Harvey Weinstein, where the glitterati spit into test tubes so their DNA could be analyzed by 23andMe.
