23andMe Says 15% of Customers Asked To Delete Their Genetic Data Since Bankruptcy (techcrunch.com)
- Reference: 0178011805
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/06/11/214242/23andme-says-15-of-customers-asked-to-delete-their-genetic-data-since-bankruptcy
- Source link: https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/11/23andme-says-15-of-customers-asked-to-delete-their-genetic-data-since-bankruptcy/
> Pharmaceutical giant Regeneron [4]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 [5]steps you can take .
[1] https://slashdot.org/story/25/03/24/0517231/dna-testing-firm-23andme-files-for-bankruptcy
[2] https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/11/23andme-says-15-of-customers-asked-to-delete-their-genetic-data-since-bankruptcy/
[3] https://oversight.house.gov/hearing/securing-americans-genetic-information-privacy-and-national-security-concerns-surrounding-23andmes-bankruptcy-sale/
[4] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/05/19/2039213/regeneron-pharmaceuticals-to-buy-23andme-and-its-data-for-256-million
[5] https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/03/25/1105488/how-to-delete-your-23andme-data/
This seems insane to me (Score:2)
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: (Score:2)
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 23
Re: (Score:2)
> It's not going to be easy for the new buyer to renege on the original agreements.
Who would know? And if caught, who goes to jail? The usual penalty is simply a cost of doing business fine.
Re: (Score:2)
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.
Re: (Score:2)
The terms you agreed to made it clear they can change the terms without prior notice.
At least that's the case with 23andMe
Re: (Score:2)
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.
Re: (Score:2)
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)
This is the classic problem. American voters in particular are famous for making certain trade-offs politically when they choose people who could write and enforce privacy law.
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)
I've got some bad news for you. The "Democrats" are also 1%ers. There's a large enough faction of people in the DNC that benefit from tax cuts and insider trading that any progressive policies don't stand a chance.
In other words... (Score:3)
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.
Re: (Score:2)
My cunt of a brother refused to delete.
Let's be realistic (Score:2)
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.
Re: (Score:2)
The Mormons already have it and they're baptizing you whether you like it or not.
Re: Let's be realistic (Score:2)
Ummm... What? Have you been smoking green again?
Re: (Score:2)
> 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.