There literally was never a valid reason to use this service. Knowledge about possibility of my great x 30 grandmother being raped by a Mongol raider is not even a fun fact to say at parties.
this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2025
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Seems like data should be deleted in bankruptcy filings.
It's the only thing of value they have to sell
I thought they were doing some drug research too
woot woot under capitalism your dna is a commodity
“Your data remains protected. The Chapter 11 filing does not change how we store, manage, or protect customer data. Our users’ privacy and data are important considerations in any transaction, and we remain committed to our users’ privacy and to being transparent with our customers about how their data is managed.”
Scummy misdirection
It’s technically true and they say it to calm users but what they’re not communicating is that the buyer does not have to guarantee the same protections
They’re “important considerations” but they have no leverage whatsoever. They’ve mismanaged the fuck out of this company and have been desperate for buyers. Now they are in a position of potentially selling to the highest bidder
Coincidentally my parents used their service. I’m logging into their accounts to delete things. Last week when I logged in (assuming this was coming) to request copies of their records the site was snappy and responsive. Today when I log in to actually request deletion of their sample it is abysmally slow. I’m sure it’s getting hammered but I’m also sure they will put up whatever roadblocks they can as they need those samples preserved, that is their value
As curious as I was about my own ancestry, this is exactly why I never did it myself. Not that it matters, though. If any of your close relatives do it they'll have a near match for you as well.
Same! My gf begged me to do it. She made me feel like an asshole for not doing it. Called me crazy to think anything would happen. Well here we are!
I had a girlfriend circa 2010 that was almost the same, but about joining Facebook.
To be fair, Facebook 2010 was peak and nowhere near the toxic environment it is today.
I feel there’s an intuitive suspicion when it comes to DNA Ancestry companies.
Nah, peak was 2005-6 when it was just college students. You could suddenly find the best parties like it was nothing, homework answers were exchanged openly, neither your parents or siblings could access and see what was going on. Farmville style games came about in 2009, which is when the decline became apparent to me.
Yea, I suppose it is about perspective. I started using Facebook in 2009 when I was in high school. For me, it was the same deal— finding friends, hangouts, parties, etc. and it noticeably went downhill as it became more corporate and flooded with boomers who brought a toxic culture to it, imo.
So did you end up dropping her out of your top 5 on MySpace over it?
Apparently you can actually do it through the company that 23 and ME contracts. And that company has way better privacy policy.
I did it out of curiosity as well, not on 23andme though. Since I wanted to finish my grandfather's history tree after his passing. He told me a lot about missing family ties because of two world wars Etc... the DNA data helped a lot.
When they sell the shop to the highest bidder, they will probably include the backups from the last few months, before people started "deleting" their profiles.
I do wish 18 year old me thought this through a bit more before sending in my sample
Same for 34-year-old me. I'm a fucking idiot.
I don't even know how to sue them; not like it'll matter anyway if they have no money to pay out. Even if I did know, I can't afford a lawyer.
You can still download the data and delete it from their servers.
Don't kid yourself.
I can 100% guarantee it's more likely to work than not doing anything
True, but there have zero incentive to honor such requests. If anything, they have incentive to ignore them, since it'll just take time, effort and money that they don't have with no resulting benefit.
So give up, just don't do anything!
I know those weren't your literal words, but that's the sentiment.
It's the only thing you can do at this point if you gave them your DNA, and it harms nobody to try.
Listing all the reasons not to bother just seems a bit pointless to me. Especially since they had no real reason to honor the request before.
No, you're putting words in my mouth.
I'm not telling anyone not to bother; I'm outlining how pitiful the state of things.
True, but there have zero incentive to honor such requests
Pretty sure 23andMe is based in California, don’t Cali laws legally require them to delete the data when requested?
Bold of you to assume they follow the law and will get in trouble for not.
Everyone on this thread seems to be getting really mad when we point that out.
And what exactly are the repercussions? They go bankrupt, shut down, and now there's nobody to see any consequences.
They're a California-based company so under the CCPA they must delete your data upon request.
I did already do that but will never know for sure if they actually did delete it despite what any law may say
23andme was more of an IQ test than i DNA test.
Explains why the only people I've known to do it are my dumbass redneck inlaws.
Well, they don't actually sequence your genome, afaik its a SNPchip type of thing, so only some select polymorphisms, probably not much useful data, especially if the stolen data was already processed results.
If you were checked for hereditary diseases (you were, as a part of this) and then actually develop any of those diseases later in life, insurance now has a surefire way to tell you to go kick rocks and die.
For now, as of this moment, that’s not likely the case for the vast majority of folks in the U.S. There are no guarantees that will be true in the future, or even 8 minutes from now. (Which, I note, is also in the future, but it establishes the scale of my expectations for the collapse of pro-social mores in the U.S.) No word on folks who have broken healthcare systems in other parts of the world, however.
It's going to suck when all the boomer clones start attacking.
“BACK IN MY DAY” “WHAT IS WITH TODAY’S MUSIC?” “HELP ME TURN ON THE COMPUTER.”
Stop! Stop! They’re overwhelming us!!
Here is a .gov link regarding how to remove your info:
I did the thing because I wanted to learn more about my ancestry and not only was it ridiculously expensive I didn't even learn anything about my ancestry.
My grandmother did one through Ancestry a few years back and found out her father wasn't actually her father
Such applications -- trying to find and connect with a population you are related to -- require that participants give up a certain amount of privacy. It's the nature of the thing.
Wanted to find out about my matriarchal line like 15 years ago. To this day, not a single hit, but dozens and dozens of relatives on my patriarchal line. So weird.
Maybe maw and paw share the same line...
That’s assuming they were telling the truth and not pulling it all out of their ass. You can’t trust companies.
Was looking for a little history of the company and found a decent brief read from Scientific American mag, 2013, just in case anyone wanted the same.
I’d forgotten how the FDA in the USA focused on regulating the medical equipment itself, and how the company basically just ignored all attempts to stop it.
I wish we could get this but as a proper public service. Maybe it'd help people contextualize themselves as connected to everyone else.
this would rely on the government not doing what the us is going through
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