The genetic testing company 23andMe, once a pioneer in consumer DNA testing, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy amid financial struggles, a leadership shakeup and growing concerns about the security of its customers’ genetic data. […]
When a company like 23andMe files for bankruptcy, its assets, including customer data, can become part of the sale process. While privacy laws in some states, such as California’s Genetic Information Privacy Act, require explicit consent before transferring genetic data to a new owner, the risk of misuse or unauthorized access remains.
23andMe has assured customers that any buyer will be required to comply with applicable privacy laws. However, genetic data is a valuable asset that could be exploited if not adequately safeguarded.
Additionally, only a week and a half ago, 23andMe updated their terms and conditions, which I’ve reviewed. They’ve added an important legal disclosure that could prevent an individual from filing a lawsuit with expectations of a court trial. Instead, unless you opt out by notifying 23andme within 30 days of first use, you are automatically bound to the new terms that force parties into an arbitration path for any legal remedies that could arise now or in the future.
Their only asset is your DNA. It will be fully monetized.
Never used them or anyone else if there is such an enterprise.
Their woes started when they were sued by a degenerate. He was choked when the results said he was XY and not his declared “XX”. A low-life Demoncrap failed lawyer agreed and awarded the degenerate damages.
the $30000000 judgement for the data breach probably didn’t help
Because we all NEEDED to discover our roots. To find out “where we came from”. Right?
Sorry 23 and Me … but I know exactly where I came from. As my son’s multiethnic wife mocked me … “your DNA is boring”. Yeah, right? Cool. Call my Euromutt origins “boring”. What a shame I don’t have a Haitian or Malaysian branch in my family tree. Meh.
Thank you all the same, I’ll keep my cells to myself.
New Jersey used to do the mandatory newborn blood test in every hospital, then hold onto the results for nearly 30 years. There is evidence that they used to provide those results to law enforcement without a warrant. So, essentially, if you were born in NJ, your DNA was on display involuntarily. However, a class action suit got it lowered to two years (and NJ fought hard to keep it the way it was originally…30 years). Texas was caught sending newborn blood test information to the Dept. of Defense a number of years ago. There are nearly 20 US states that hold onto newborn blood test data for varying lengths of time.
I have no idea what Canada’s proclivities are in this area. It would not surprise me if your government is just as intrusive as ours in this area.
Those kinda companies should be sued into oblivion. If your mom or dad, brother or sister, son or daughter use those aholes, they just handed a bunch of YOUR DNA to them without your consent.
Of course, Canadians are way too stupid to figure this out.
You are spot on. A cold case was solved using a DNA sample from Ancestry that was used to indirectly trace the original assailant. I can’t remember how it was discovered but it proves any relative using the service exposes the whole family.
Seems to me one of these outfits had a direct pipeline to the FBI.
“23andMe has assured customers that any buyer will be required to comply with applicable privacy laws. ”
to quote The Bard in Hamlet: “words words words”.
words aint shyt. lve learned that operating a rooming house for 15 years.
and soon will be selling for an above rate tq TURDeau for clobbering affordability right when it suits my purposes.
yeahwell – Americans are just as stupid about this stuff. Who do you think buys these DNA packages and keeps these companies in business? If they were relying on stupid Canadians, they would have gone broke in their first month of business.
MikeT – it was the Golden State Killer. Very clever cold case resolution, in my opinion. I’m sure the families of those he killed get some solace knowing who raped and killed their loved ones.
Kenji – for those of us who are adopted, it can be useful information. I’ll spare the details but I think I just found my birth dad, beginning with an Ancestry account. He’s been dead 10 years now but it answers some questions. My kids are starting to have kids of their own and wouldn’t mind knowing some of my medical background, especially my d-in-law who has no frame of reference for adoption.
As for me, call me a conspiracy theorist but I think all of these tests end up with the Mormon church someway, somehow. If consenting adults use the service and upload their DNA, so be it. If you don’t trust them, don’t use them.
I wouldn’t give my DNA to a company anymore than I would allow a company to inject me with a Covid vaccine.
What the hell is wrong with so many people who line up for this bullsh!t without the concerns that so many of them are having right now.
“I wouldn’t give my DNA to a company anymore than I would allow a company to inject me with a Covid vaccine.”
Same here. DNA might not lie, but the people who manipulate it certainly do.
In the real world everyone knows or could easily know my parents and grandparents and know where they came from. It’s all public information not relying on DNA. No illegitimacy other than my 11th great grandfather who was a bastard son of James V of Scotland. My DNA shows my ancestry as being from the same countries as the historical record. I have absolutely no concern of my DNA being public. If DNA shows one of my relatives to be a murderer, I say hang the bastard.
Good luck suing the CCP.