23andMe files for bankruptcy

[Pink Partridge]

But what can they do to me? I am a boring, middle aged, law abiding citizen. I am not asking this question in an antagonizing manner. I am truly curious what could happen to me?

 

[eandt]

But what can they do to me? I am a boring, middle aged, law abiding citizen. I am not asking this question in an antagonizing manner. I am truly curious what could happen to me?

Probably nothing or perhaps they clone you lol .. at the very least you gave up a great deal of privacy to find out information that probably was mostly already known and by submitting your sample you also potentially submitted the privacy of your family members without their consent… it remains to be seen what all could come of these samples and databases …don’t think I’d overly worry myself at this point if I had participated however I would definitely learn from the experience

 

[Deb]

you absolutely can be anonymous is you choose to. I can no longer access my 23&me matches since I deleted my account, but I literally have matches on the other major services who have their name as "anonymous" or just initials or a screen name. I don't because I tested for genealogy purposes, but you can.

23&me gives you the option when you test whether you want them to store your sample or destroy.

I personally don't care if they use my info to solve a violent crime. but not all the sites allow law enforcement access. I can't recall off the top of my head which do and since I'm ok with it, I didn't opt out when given that option.

Am I afraid someone might find out I'm Jewish? Cat's already out of the bag between my name and my documented family tree.

There are laws (for what they are worth in the US these days) preventing insurance companies from accessing/using the data.

 

[eandt]

you absolutely can be anonymous is you choose to. I can no longer access my 23&me matches since I deleted my account, but I literally have matches on the other major services who have their name as "anonymous" or just initials or a screen name. I don't because I tested for genealogy purposes, but you can.

23&me gives you the option when you test whether you want them to store your sample or destroy.

I personally don't care if they use my info to solve a violent crime. but not all the sites allow law enforcement access. I can't recall off the top of my head which do and since I'm ok with it, I didn't opt out when given that option.

Am I afraid someone might find out I'm Jewish? Cat's already out of the bag between my name and my documented family tree.

There are laws (for what they are worth in the US these days) preventing insurance companies from accessing/using the data.

You sound angry my friend ..chill. A question was asked I answered said question based on the knowledge I possess. Don’t have to read it if you don’t want to see it.

PS: Lol that you think you are anonymous since it’s typed in a box .. also you should probably subpoena the company to force them to show you the chain of custody of the handling AND destruction of your sample and results. Friendly advice. IG

 

[Deb]

You sound angry my friend ..chill. A question was asked I answered said question based on the knowledge I possess. Don’t have to read it if you don’t want to see it.

PS: Lol that you think you are anonymous since it’s typed in a box .. also you should probably subpoena the company to force them to show you the chain of custody of the handling AND destruction of your sample and results. Friendly advice. IG

not everyone who does not agree with you is "angry"

And to use your phrase, Lol that you think anyone has any interest in cloning you.

 

[_19disnA]

Never used that service or any of the various DNA test companies around. I would treat your DNA much like your SS# and NEVER provide it to random companies when you really have no idea what they may choose to do with it. A friend did use one of those DNA test kits (can't recall which company it was) and mostly got back what looked like generic 'boiler plate' type information indicating the DNA was 23% of this or 51% of that. As I recall only about 1-2 pages were specific to them.

I think once the novelty wore off, people lost interest and as others have mentioned, it always seemed like something you would only do one time, so not like it was any sort of recurring business. Now that they are bankrupt, who knows where the information they collected will end up?

 

[Deb]

Never used that service or any of the various DNA test companies around. I would treat your DNA much like your SS# and NEVER provide it to random companies when you really have no idea what they may choose to do with it. A friend did use one of those DNA test kits (can't recall which company is was) and mostly got back what looked like generic 'boiler plate' type information indicating the DNA was 23% of this or 51% of that. As I recall only about 1-2 pages were specific to them.

I think once the novelty wore off, people lost interest and as others have mentioned, it always seemed like

if your reason for doing a test is to see the 27% from here and 18% from there results, I would say skip it. And if you do test, be aware those percentages will change with time, not because they were wrong, but because they will be refined as more data is collected.

If you are interested in genealogical research, it's an amazing tool.

 

[Moliphino]

you absolutely can be anonymous is you choose to. I can no longer access my 23&me matches since I deleted my account, but I literally have matches on the other major services who have their name as "anonymous" or just initials or a screen name. I don't because I tested for genealogy purposes, but you can.

You could opt out of the genetic matches entirely. My uncle did it and he doesn't even show up in my family matches (and no, it's not a hidden scandal, I know he chose to keep it private. His two kids do show up as my cousins.).

 

[Deb]

You could opt out of the genetic matches entirely. My uncle did it and he doesn't even show up in my family matches (and no, it's not a hidden scandal, I know he chose to keep it private. His two kids do show up as my cousins.).

I wasn't sure all of the sites allowed for that. And didn't feel like investigating. lol

 

[jimmymc]

But what can they do to me? I am a boring, middle aged, law abiding citizen. I am not asking this question in an antagonizing manner. I am truly curious what could happen to me?

The worst-case scenario is probably an insurance company using it to justify increasing your prices or denying care.

 

[Kennywood]

I can obviously understand the biological differences in people of different races. That's a no-brainer.

What I can't understand is how these DNA companies can use DNA to determine countries-of-origin of ancestors. A Caucasian in the U.S. would have similar DNA markers as those people in England, France, etc. An African-American would have similar DNA markers as those people in Africa, the Caribbean, etc. So how can a DNA company say, "You're 50% English, 20% French, etc"? Race is one thing, but country-of-origin would be something else.

 

[Pink Partridge]

The worst-case scenario is probably an insurance company using it to justify increasing your prices or denying care.

YIKES! I didn't even think about that. That is actually quite worrisome.

 

[Mle8308]

Pharma companies can also buy the DNA results/data for specific areas or regions and analyze to see specific markers for disease or potential vulnerabilities for disease, etc. and go from there... Supposedly the 23&Me data base of DNA is currently up for sale. And yes, they can do it.

 

[Deb]

I can obviously understand the biological differences in people of different races. That's a no-brainer.

What I can't understand is how these DNA companies can use DNA to determine countries-of-origin of ancestors. A Caucasian in the U.S. would have similar DNA markers as those people in England, France, etc. An African-American would have similar DNA markers as those people in Africa, the Caribbean, etc. So how can a DNA company say, "You're 50% English, 20% French, etc"? Race is one thing, but country-of-origin would be something else.

They start by testing large groups of people with verifiable roots where they currently live. So, for instance people whose families have lived in Wales for hundreds of years. Once they have their databases set up, they compare new test kits to the known kits. And that is why each company will give you slightly different results, they all create their own "known dataset"

 

[Deb]

YIKES! I didn't even think about that. That is actually quite worrisome.

it's also not legal

 

[Deb]

Pharma companies can also buy the DNA results/data for specific areas or regions and analyze to see specific markers for disease or potential vulnerabilities for disease, etc. and go from there... Supposedly the 23&Me data base of DNA is currently up for sale. And yes, they can do it.

first, you have to opt in to research. Second, they are not selling individual test results they are selling anonymous groups of data

 

[Mle8308]

first, you have to opt in to research. Second, they are not selling individual test results they are selling anonymous groups of data

I know, see my post #6. I am more concerned about a bio company purchasing large amounts of DNA data and then engineering *something* based on the vulnerabilities of the population represented by that DNA. It's definitely something that can happen... And it's only anonymous by name.

 

[jimmymc]

YIKES! I didn't even think about that. That is actually quite worrisome.

Yeah, 23andMe claims everything was stored anonymously, but you never know.