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Since it was founded nearly two decades ago, 23andMe has grown into one of the largest biotechnology companies in the world. Millions of people have used its simple genetic testing service, which involves ordering a saliva test, spitting into a tube, and sending it back to the company for a detailed DNA analysis.
But now the company is on the brink of bankruptcy. This has raised concerns about what will happen to the troves of genetic data it has in its possession.
The company's chief executive, Anne Wojcicki, has said she is committed to customer privacy and will "maintain our current privacy policy".
But what can customers of 23andMe themselves do to make sure their highly personal genetic data is protected? And should we be concerned about other companies that also collect our DNA?
[...] 23andMe has had a rapid downfall after the 2021 high of its public listing.
Its value has dropped more than 97%. In 2023, it suffered a major data breach affecting almost seven million users and settled a class action lawsuit for US$30 million.
Last month its seven independent directors resigned amid news the original founder is planning to take the company private once more. The company has never made a profit and is reportedly on the verge of bankruptcy.
What this might mean for its vast stores of genetic data is unclear.
Previously:
- 23andMe Proposes $30 Million Payment for Data Breach
- 23andMe Tells Victims it's Their Fault that Their Data was Breached
- 23andMe: Profiles of 6.9 Million People Hacked
- 23andMe Says Private User Data is Up for Sale After Being Scraped
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday October 29, @12:15PM
I think we're kind of talking past each other. Aside from TOS issues, there are various laws.
Back "in the old days" before those laws existed or were as enforced or as much attention was paid to 23andme, under must less restrictive legal environment, they couldn't make money.
Now things are more restrictive and they can't make money.
The paranoid part is thinking if they roll back in time and go vaguely felony gangster they'll make money so they'll "have to" break the law and go gangster and post all out G's C's A's and T's in order on 4chan, although nobody can figure out how that would make them money, AND back in the wild west days it did indeed make them no money. So they'll "have to" release our private data or have it stolen just because or something, I don't understand the reasoning.
We seems to agree (I think?) that the most likely privacy breech is some construction crew contractor removes all the hard drives as scrap, sells them on ebay not knowing or caring whats on the drives, someone gets data. Data that you can't actually make money with, but a privacy violation none the less.