Remember that holiday party, when your sister informed everyone there was an American Indian swimming in the family gene pool? Who knew? 23andMe had livened up an otherwise dull affair. Now, in bankruptcy, that company is poised to liven things up even further.
Your DNA is for sale to the highest bidder.
I’ve written about this subject before, when 23andMe was still a going concern. Back then, it did a notoriously poor job of protecting user data. Now, in bankruptcy, the firm once valued at >$6B is poised to open the doors of its “data barn” and set your DNA information free.
Of course, 23andMe’s official position is that (maintaining) the privacy of customer data would be of critical importance in any sale. Really? Absent customer data 23andMe would have very little worth selling.
Make no mistake: Buyers are interested in your data.
23andMe notes that it only shares genetic data that is stripped of identifying information such as names and dates of birth. Fine. That does not mean that a buyer of its assets will necessarily adhere to the same policy.
Nor are there any federal laws that would enforce such anonymity. HIPAA comes close but only applies to health care providers and insurers. Direct to consumer companies, like 23andMe, are not constrained by HIPAA.
Some states have laws governing genetic privacy, but most require users to formally request that a company delete their DNA information. OK. But consider that your DNA info likely exists in multiple back-up files that will not/cannot be deleted. Also, with so much of 23andMe’s data already on the dark web, any buyer of its assets could reasonably argue that it did not leak your data; the data were already out there.
So, it appears that your sister’s saliva sample and resultant DNA profile will be an albatross around the collective family neck. Her 23andMe report, like family grudges, will be mentioned disdainfully at every party, funeral, or wedding. It will not go away.
Grandma was right.
Nothing good ever came from spitting.
Peter has spent the past twenty-plus years as an acting/consulting CFO for a number of small businesses in a wide range of industries. Peter’s prior experience is that of a serial entrepreneur, managing various start-up and turnaround projects. He is a co-founder of Keurig.
