23andMe Says 15% of Customers Asked To Delete Their Genetic Data Since Bankruptcy (techcrunch.com) 35
Since filing for bankruptcy in March, 23andMe has received data deletion requests from 1.9 million users -- around 15% of its customer base. That number was revealed by 23andMe's interim chief executive Joseph Selsavage during a House Oversight Committee hearing, during which lawmakers scrutinized the company's sale following an earlier bankruptcy auction. "The bankruptcy sparked concerns that the data of millions of Americans who used 23andMe could end up in the hands of an unscrupulous buyer, prompting customers to ask the company to delete their data," adds TechCrunch. From the report: Pharmaceutical giant Regeneron won the court-approved auction in May, offering $256 million for 23andMe and its banks of customers' DNA and genetic data. Regeneron said it would use the 23andMe data to aid the discovery of new drugs, and committed to maintain 23andMe's privacy practices. Truly deleting your personal genetic information from the DNA testing company is easier said than done. But if you were a 23andMe customer and are interested, MIT Technology Review outlines that steps you can take.
Let's be realistic (Score:3)
Your genetic (and other personal) data will one day in the not-so-distant future end up on a hard drive in a local back-alley bin.
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Re: Let's be realistic (Score:2)
Ummm... What? Have you been smoking green again?
Re: Let's be realistic (Score:1)
Re: Let's be realistic (Score:2)
That's genealogical records not genetic records. They keep copies of the types of data the government usually keeps, such as births, marriages and life events such as immigration.
The baptism in absentia is a little odd, and might annoy those that consider those things to mean someone, but otherwise pretty helpful.
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Your genetic (and other personal) data will one day in the not-so-distant future end up on a hard drive in a local back-alley bin.
It wouldn't be the first time it's happened. I still remember my first time with a Maxtor. She slipped out bare from a 5.5" bay at 5400 RPM and damn she looked fine. I still remember her measurements: 8191 cylinders, 16 heads, and 63 sectors. Wait... oh, you guys are talking about genetic testing results. Right, I was also talking about that.
"Change of Control" bond covenants (Score:2)
It's common for corporate bond covenants to have a "change of control" covenant which allows the bond owner to demand full repayment of the bond at any time the corporation effectively sells itself or a large part of itself to another company.
Personal data and biometrics could have the same type of clause
This seems insane to me (Score:4)
Let me get this straight. A company can enter into a contract with me for my data with certain restrictions on using or sharing it. If they then file for bankruptcy and get auctioned off, the new owner can do whatever they want with my data because in some sense it's the property of the defunct corporation and not mine, since I shared it.
Am I the only person who thinks that that's fundamentally broken, and if that's how it works then "how it works" needs to be fixed?
Re:This seems insane to me (Score:4, Insightful)
No, not quite how it works. The terms of the sale have to be approved by a bankruptcy judge. They can't just agree to whatever they want to agree to.
Further, the data is the subject of dozens of state lawsuits over the privacy expectations of the customers.
It's not going to be easy for the new buyer to renege on the original agreements. On the other hand, those original agreements--long before the bankruptcy--were pretty loose. Customers have always pretty much signed all their rights away. It's not like 23andMe ever cared deeply about privacy.
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Who would know? And if caught, who goes to jail? The usual penalty is simply a cost of doing business fine.
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Given that the original terms of service allowed 23andMe to change the terms of service at any time, the current state of affairs (being supervised by a judge) is an improvement.
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Except the bankruptcy judge's sole criteria is how much money they can get for the assets - their goal is to maximize the amount creditors get back.
So if someone is bidding on the data, the judge will pick whoever bids the highest. Now, your restrictions on the data sharing were between you and 23andMe - not with the eventual buyer of the data. The buyer is under no obligation to honor th
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If you are correct, why did the bankruptcy judge reject the purchase of Alex Jones' InfoWars by The Onion, even though their offer was financially the largest?
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Because Texas [pbs.org]. Are you new?
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Let me get this straight. You're saying that "because Texas" (whatever that means) a bankruptcy judge did not "just pick whoever bids the highest" but required parties to act in good faith. But since 23andMe is headquartered in California, that bankruptcy judge *will* "just pick whoever bids the highest" without regard to good faith? Usually, the bigoted "because Texas" kinds of arguments go the other way, claiming that Texas plays fast and loose. Interesting take.
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The terms you agreed to made it clear they can change the terms without prior notice.
At least that's the case with 23andMe
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Yes, which means that now that a judge has to sign off due to being in bankruptcy, the risk is actually LOWER than it was when 23andMe was doing business as usual.
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They must honour the original privacy terms. Which means there is no reason they won't be allowed keep the same terms of allowing them to change without prior notice.
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The matter here is contractual, it's not a question of "that's how it works" it's a question of what the parties to the contract agreed to. In this case, the contract would be the terms that the user agreed to when they signed up for 23andMe's service. If the terms were unacceptable to either party, the contract should not have been entered into. The terms also could have been written in another way, such that the individual retains total ownership rights to their DNA, etc. But a company as sophisticated as
What political trade-offs will you make? (Score:2)
Typically in exchange for indulging in a moral panic Americans give up privacy and tangible economic goods. It's been like that as long as I've been alive and I'm old as dirt.
Unless you can convince Americans to stop indulging in moral panics and stop caring about what their neighbors do consensually behind closed doors then y
New boss, same as the old boss (Score:2)
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Those would be the dead and non-citizens. Again, for those in the cheap seats. By most measures the 2020 election was the aberrant one not the 2016, or 2024. Looking at who won the bellwether counties, JRB won 1 of 20, previous low number was 13 of 20 to take the White House, and we know the Harris did poorer the JRB in every county. Conversely, JRB was the first presidential candidate to take the Whi
In other words... (Score:5, Insightful)
Leopards ate their face.
I hate to victim blame, but don't put your genetic data online. My sister did, and I share 50% of mine with her. I am (IMO) justifiably angry about that (we're still cool though, but this is not something we'll ever agree on).
Everything, and I mean everything you put online, or send anywhere, including to government, will be leaked eventually. Share your data with that thought in mind.
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My cunt of a brother refused to delete.
The profit motive in medicine is too strong (Score:2)
Now we see the most predictable outcome - someone who knows they can profit from the data is buying the remains of the company (with the data).
Only in the USA is the genomic data that valuable, and there is one sector of the economy who can b
Valuation of your DNA (Score:2)
Doing the math, that means your DNA is worth about $20. Interesting.