DNA of 15 Million People for Sale in 23andMe Bankruptcy
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I knew the whole idea of letting a company get your genetic fingerprint was a bad idea from the start. Being curious about my ancestry wasn't worth it.
Not just yours, but your family 's DNA. You are not much different from your siblings and parents. I was pissed when my brother told me he did one of those stupid DNA tests.
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Just disconnect the modem problem solved.
Not sure if it is a joke.
But according to the legalese of some manufacfurers, just being inside the car is a form of you giving consent.
You would have to disable all radios and receivers, GPS, never take your car for maintenance and never connect your car's systems to anything and never connect your phone or peripherals to it. As your phone will send car data to the manufacturers. Disable or break all cameras. And this is assuming they even respect you opting out. Apparently, most people are so unaware of the data collecting being such a huge thing that some manufacturers do not even really disable what you tell them to disable, or by using the car or an option in the car, you give them permission to enable them again. LOL
Point is that you can't or most people won't do any of these things and car makers won't stop until maybe they get sued. -
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but when it happens on the dark web it's so incredibly illegal, but when a company does it...
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I just pulled the fuse. Problem solved. Phone start doesn't work but never used it.
Safest thing that would actually work is to take out the battery.
Not on electric cars. LOL
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Uh... nope. Sorry. They specifically touch on it"
"Commonly owned entities, affiliates and change of ownership: If we are involved in a bankruptcy, merger, acquisition, reorganization, or sale of assets, your Personal Information may be accessed, sold or transferred as part of that transaction and this Privacy Statement will apply to your Personal Information as transferred to the new entity. We may also disclose Personal Information about you to our corporate affiliates to help operate our services and our affiliates’ services."
If you request to delete your data as per the GDPR, they will delete some data, but as per their legalese they will not delete all and what is not deleted falls under their Privacy Statement, where you find the above, quoted text. Worth noting that in above the use of may in practice means "will".
On top of that, once the data is out of the the EU, which they make a point to state numerous times, they rely on the DPF which focuses on how data is used or transfered to outside the EU. So, if a company is already signed to the DPF, then they can totally keep some of your data as well. Or if they transfer it using it the same framework. So the DPF does not help either. The GDPR focuses on common identifying information, off the cuff it does not seem to address the notion of how DNA can liyerally be used for exactly that, so, legally, as it stands the DNA data is out of scope of the GDPR. Or, at least that is what they seem to be claiming, indirectly.
So yeah, you can delete some data, but with a bunch of asterisks followed by that statement. So, sadly, your argument is not fully correct.
They will delete some identifying information. But they seemto keep the most important of the data.What I meant is that "this Privacy Statement will apply to your Personal Information as transferred to the new entity", so by itself the sale of assets is not a reason to exclude any data from anything stated there.
I am deleting my account as soon as I get transferred all the data, but what happens when I request the deletion is still valid whether or not they sold the assets.
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I’ve been telling people since this dna testing started that sooner or later that data will be for sale, an insurance company will buy it, and then get used against people to increase their health insurance rates or deny claims.
But I’m a crazy conspiracy theorist according to everyone
Same reason I don’t want to buy a new car anymore…
GATTACA! GATTACA!
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Wonder if the ones without apps do it.
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No one has any right to complain, this possibility is clearly outlined in the t&c's every person agreed to.
Shouldn't have handed out your defining essence to a corporation.
Kinda wacked out take. Onus shouldnt be on the individual
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Kinda wacked out take. Onus shouldnt be on the individual
While I do agree its a bit whack, I question if everything needs 100% safety to be legal?
If someone offers a dangerous thing and you sign a waiver, maybe motocross, if you get injured is it the owners fault? Why should an individual be free from onus?
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Kinda wacked out take. Onus shouldnt be on the individual
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I'm going to buy it all and work on my super human...
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While I do agree its a bit whack, I question if everything needs 100% safety to be legal?
If someone offers a dangerous thing and you sign a waiver, maybe motocross, if you get injured is it the owners fault? Why should an individual be free from onus?
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No one has any right to complain, this possibility is clearly outlined in the t&c's every person agreed to.
Shouldn't have handed out your defining essence to a corporation.
"The fuck else were these people expecting" is also my visceral reaction whenever shit like that happens, but if I think about for a bit longer, I realize that it's not much different than saying "The fuck else were you expecting" to a rape victim who went alone into a dark alley. Sure, people are stupid for engaging with this obvious scam, but the bad guy is still the scammer, not the victims.
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What I meant is that "this Privacy Statement will apply to your Personal Information as transferred to the new entity", so by itself the sale of assets is not a reason to exclude any data from anything stated there.
I am deleting my account as soon as I get transferred all the data, but what happens when I request the deletion is still valid whether or not they sold the assets.
Thanks for the link. We may be slightly speaking past each other. On one hand, the link you sent is of course, correct. I had read that before and is not that I did not believe that the GDPR would include it, more so on not fully trusting 23andMe to comply.
What you may be overlooking is that in the real world, possible buyers will have access to data as part of any Due Diligence terms, whether they purchase or not. In a perfect world it should not change things but in practice it can, or does. Apparently, that bit I quoted earlier was a very recent update to their T&Cs, as they are protecting themselves for any future lawsuits. Also, I just do not trust 23andMe to have your best interest at heart and to fully comply with privacy issues at the current time, either due to willful BS or mistake. It might just not be a priority. The whole thing could collapse tomorrow, but they are still full on taking people's money. Any promise of compliance are just words at this point. I have known enough large companies collapse to see this as no different. GDPR or not. On a privacy concern, is not as if they asked everyone who is blood related for any consent, either.
This was releseased not to long ago, so the USA Feds are not really confident, either:
ag.ny.gov/press-release/2025/attorney-general-james-urges-23andme-customers-contact-company-delete
But on paper, I agree that Europeans seem to have sturdier protections. Albeit Americans may have more legal options. Cheers and hope they fully delete your data without any BS.
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"The fuck else were these people expecting" is also my visceral reaction whenever shit like that happens, but if I think about for a bit longer, I realize that it's not much different than saying "The fuck else were you expecting" to a rape victim who went alone into a dark alley. Sure, people are stupid for engaging with this obvious scam, but the bad guy is still the scammer, not the victims.
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I hate this understatement so fucking much. No, those are just the people that directly gave their dna to 23 & me.
In reality, you only need to sample the genetic data for a small sample of the population to get the genetic information for the majority of the population. These people have relatives, and 23 & me hd their data too. They have most of ours.
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No one has any right to complain, this possibility is clearly outlined in the t&c's every person agreed to.
Shouldn't have handed out your defining essence to a corporation.
What about those of us who are related to the people who took the test, and never consented to the t&c? They have our data, too.
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Does whoever purchase the company's assets have full rights to the DNA data though? Wouldn't there be some kind of restriction for that kind of thing?
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Thanks for the link. We may be slightly speaking past each other. On one hand, the link you sent is of course, correct. I had read that before and is not that I did not believe that the GDPR would include it, more so on not fully trusting 23andMe to comply.
What you may be overlooking is that in the real world, possible buyers will have access to data as part of any Due Diligence terms, whether they purchase or not. In a perfect world it should not change things but in practice it can, or does. Apparently, that bit I quoted earlier was a very recent update to their T&Cs, as they are protecting themselves for any future lawsuits. Also, I just do not trust 23andMe to have your best interest at heart and to fully comply with privacy issues at the current time, either due to willful BS or mistake. It might just not be a priority. The whole thing could collapse tomorrow, but they are still full on taking people's money. Any promise of compliance are just words at this point. I have known enough large companies collapse to see this as no different. GDPR or not. On a privacy concern, is not as if they asked everyone who is blood related for any consent, either.
This was releseased not to long ago, so the USA Feds are not really confident, either:
ag.ny.gov/press-release/2025/attorney-general-james-urges-23andme-customers-contact-company-delete
But on paper, I agree that Europeans seem to have sturdier protections. Albeit Americans may have more legal options. Cheers and hope they fully delete your data without any BS.
I take the (you may call it Stoic) decision not to think about what I cannot affect.
23andMe is not a good company, it is tied to Google etc. and they are sloppy with security.
I am not even trying to justify myself not taking my data away from there earlier, that is my fault, and I have been stupid and lazy.That said, their Privacy Statement is quite clear about what should happen and none of the exception listed there apply, also because genetic data is anyway Art. 9 data.
I will act at the best of my possibilities and not concern myself more than needed with how bad of an actor anyone may be in the US (it is a bit overwhelming as an exercise, especially nowadays).
