At stake in the debate about personal genomics is what kind of person can be trusted to interpret genomes. Deciding this hinges not just on determining if consumers can interpret genomic information, but on deciding which biological and medical experts (if any) can perform these interpretive acts. Understanding why personal genomics has generated such tension and attention requires bringing these struggles, over who can interpret 'the code of life', into focus. While debates about personal genomics focus largely on relatively narrow issues of fraud and deception, this emerging new scientific and political terrain poses more fundamental questions about how the study of biological life, as well as the organization of democratic life, should proceed in genomic times.