23andMe has filed for chapter, elevating issues about what is going to occur to the DNA-testing firm and all the information it’s collected from clients through the years. Within the occasion that 23andMe is offered, its large genetic database might find yourself within the arms of a unique firm fully — one which customers by no means consented to handing their private info over to.
If you happen to’ve submitted your DNA to the corporate by way of its saliva-testing kits, 23andMe will sometimes have your genetic, ancestry, and household connections knowledge on file, alongside any private info that was used to create your account, together with your identify, handle, e mail handle, and cost info. Fortunately, the corporate will proceed its common operations whereas going via the Chapter 11 course of, permitting customers to entry and no less than partially delete their info for now.
23andMe says that genetic data is anonymized and saved individually from personally identifiable info resembling names, addresses, and cost info. Anonymization has been recognized to fail in different conditions, nevertheless, so right here’s how one can proactively take away as a lot of your knowledge as attainable for those who’d relatively not take any possibilities. The method is identical throughout each cell and desktop platforms.
The best way to take away your knowledge from 23andMe
Deleting your 23andMe account is irreversible, and also you’ll completely lose entry to it as soon as accomplished. If there are a number of profiles created by different customers in your account then these will even be wiped until you transfer them to an account that isn’t being deleted.
One of many notable points is that this course of additionally gained’t delete all of your knowledge — in accordance with 23andMe’s privacy disclosure, your genetic info, date of start, and intercourse shall be retained for an undisclosed period of time to adjust to the corporate’s authorized obligations, alongside “restricted info associated to your account,” resembling your e mail handle and communications round your knowledge deletion request.
23andMe didn’t reply our questions relating to what particular knowledge truly is retained or deleted when a consumer removes their account. Some posts have appeared on-line that encourage 23andMe users to scramble their data earlier than deletion by changing issues like identify, date of start, ethnicity, intercourse marker, and top with false equivalents. This can supposedly render any info that is retained ineffective, however will probably be ineffective if 23andMe solely shops the information that was used to create your account — one thing that the corporate additionally didn’t make clear to The Verge.
As a part of the account deletion course of, 23andMe will destroy the genetic pattern you submitted for those who beforehand opted for it to stay in storage. Your 23andMe knowledge will nonetheless exist in any scientific research you consented to, however gained’t be utilized in any future analysis initiatives. 23andMe directs clients who run into points with the account deletion course of to contact customercare@23andme.com for additional help.