Photo: Hannob
In a letter to a bankruptcy court Monday, the chair of the Federal Trade Commission said any company that buys 23andMe, a genetic testing company, in a bankruptcy proceeding, needs to abide by the 23andMe’s privacy policy on use of customer data.
Andrew N. Ferguson said:
The FTC believes that, consistent with Section 363(b)(1) of the Bankruptcy Code, these types of promises to consumers must be kept. This means that any bankruptcy-related sale or transfer involving 23andMe users’ personal information and biological samples will be subject to the representations the Company has made to users about both privacy and data security, and which users relied upon in providing their sensitive data to the Company. Moreover, as promised by 23andMe, any purchaser should expressly agree to be bound by and adhere to the terms of 23andMe’s privacy policies and applicable law, including as to any changes it subsequently makes to those policies.
These conditions would help protect users’ interests by ensuring that their data and personal information will be used consistent with 23andMe’s promises.
Why didn’t Ferguson advise consumers to delete their 23andMe data, since some state officials, the attorneys general of New York and California, for example, are suggesting it? Is it because the value of the company would be greatly reduced if millions of consumers stepped up and protect themselves by deleting their data?
I can think of dozens, if not hundreds, of companies who would like to get their hands on millions of people’s genetic information and use it for all kinds of illegal purposes. Then, there’s the fact that data breaches occur nearly every day even if companies contend they can keep customer’s information private.
In 2023, the number of data compromises in the United States was 3,205, according to Statisa, a statistical website. One of the data breaches was at 23andMe. Over five months, the personal information of about 7 million of its customers was exposed by hackers.
See “Contact 23andMe to Delete Your Data Due to Bankruptcy Filing, Attorney General Advises” for information on removing your information from the genetic testing company’s website.
I began the steps, but delayed when I discovered I was running out of ink to print off the pages, the method I chose to save my data.
