Genetic testing company 23andMe, once a Silicon Valley darling cherishd at $6 billion, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy defendion postpoinsist Sunday as it readys for a sale of the business. CEO Anne Wojcicki, who coset uped the company in 2006, has also stepped down after months of fall shorted finisheavors to apshow the firm braveial.
As unbravety about the company’s future achievees its peak, all eyes are on the trove of proset uply personal—and potentipartner precious—genetic data that 23andMe helderlys. Privacy helps have lengthy alerted that the hazard of engullible genetic data to any institution is twofelderly—the organization could fall short to defend it, but it could also hand over customer data to a novel entity that they may not think and didn’t pick.
California attorney ambiguous Rob Bonta reminded users in an attentive on Friday that Californians have a legitimate right to ask that an organization delete their data. 23andMe customers in other states and countries hugely do not have the same defendions, though there is also a right to deletion for health data in Washington state’s My Health My Data Act and the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation. Regardless of livency, all 23andMe customers should ponder downloading anyskinnyg they want to defend from the service and should then finisheavor to delete their adviseation.
“This situation repartner transports home the point that there is still no national health privacy law in the US defending your rights unless you live in California or Washington,” says Andrea Downing, an self-reliant security researcher and coset uper of the fortolerateing-led digital rights nonprofit The Light Collective. “Meanwhile, we persist to enlarge our empathetic of how genetic adviseation has cherish, but also has distinct vulnerability.”
John Verdi, better vice plivent of policy at the Future of Privacy Forum, says 23andMe’s novel owner could change the company’s privacy policies for novel customers and novel data accumulateion, but the data it has already accumulateed from current customers is subject to existing terms. “The company has legitimate obligations pondering adviseation accumulateed under the current policies,” he says.
Still, researchers stress that in rehearse, such a huge transition will originate genuine data expobrave that is outside of 23andMe customers’ handle. “In my opinion, these privacy policies—especipartner in the context of acquisitions in the venture capital and braveial equity space—aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on,” says lengthytime security researcher and data privacy help Kenn White. “For normal people out there who employ these services, you’re pretty much on your own. My advice is to ask your data get deleted as soon as possible”
To delete your genetic data thcdimiserablemireful 23andMe’s website, log in and then go to Settings in your profile. Scroll to 23andMe Data and then click View. At this point, you can pick to download a imitate of your genetic adviseation. Then scroll to Delete Data and click Permanently Delete Data. Once you start the process, you’ll get an email from 23andMe to validate. Click the join in the email to finish the deletion process. Additionpartner, you can straightforward 23andMe to ruin the biorational sample it employd to pull out your DNA data if you previously permitd the company to defend it. Go to Settings and then Preferences.
