Gang,
I really want to call bull on this, the main reason is because of the fact 23&Me was potentially and supposedly breached in 2023.
Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson said he’s keeping an eye on 23andMe’s bankruptcy proceeding and the company’s planned sale because of privacy concerns related to genetic testing data. 23andMe and its future owner must uphold the company’s privacy promises, Ferguson said in a letter sent yesterday to representatives of the US Trustee Program, a Justice Department division that oversees administration of bankruptcy proceedings.
“As Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, I write to express the FTC’s interests and concerns relating to the potential sale or transfer of millions of American consumers’ sensitive personal information,” Ferguson wrote. He continued:
As you may know, 23andMe collects and holds sensitive, immutable, identifiable personal information about millions of American consumers who have used the Company’s genetic testing and telehealth services. This includes genetic information, biological DNA samples, health information, ancestry and genealogy information, personal contact information, payment and billing information, and other information, such as messages that genetic relatives can send each other through the platform.
This paragraph backs up my bull calling. It says:
23andMe’s ability to secure user data is also a reason for concern. Hackers stole ancestry data for 6.9 million 23andMe users, the company confirmed in December 2023.
On the Kim Komando newsletter for today, she is urging all kinds of people to delete their data and delete their accounts on all of the major platforms including 23&Me.
Ars Technica covers the FTC article we quoted some of. Its titled FTC: 23andMe buyer must honor firm’s privacy promises for genetic data and this is going to get very interesting.
What do you guys think?
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