The NL Privacy Commissioner urges people to delete data from 23andme after the bankruptcy announcement

In the aftermath of a famous genetic test, you urge Newfoundland and Labrador’s Privacy Watchdog People to take measures to protect their genetic information – while they are still able to do so.

The genetic test company 23andme applied bankruptcy in the United States, which raised questions about what will happen to the personal genetic information it collected.

“They have a treasure, I think, about 30 million genetic data, and this is very personal. But it is also possible genetic information for 30 million people,” CBC.

She said that this data may be financially attractive to third parties, you may want to buy this information, such as the insurance company. Philseld added that no one knows who might buy the data that has accumulated 23andme and how it can be used.

The San Francisco -based company was established in 2006, where customers have presented saliva samples by mail, which will be analyzed after that to produce plans for their background and their lineage.

On March 23, 23ndme submitted a bankruptcy request at the US Federal Court She announced on her website “Requests and subscriptions will continue as usual, and any purchases or ginest testing groups will be dealt with for treatment without disruption.”

It was not long before the bankruptcy, The company has updated its privacy policyWith the announcement that if 23andme enters bankruptcy, customer information can be reached or sold.

In the follow -up statement, he said, “Any buyer of 23andme will be asked to agree to comply with our privacy policy and with all the law in force regarding the processing of customer data.”

Take action

Philseld encourages people to go to the 23ndme website on the web, log in, and delete their information and accounts. In addition, if someone chooses to allow the company to keep a sample of search, it can also change this setting.

“Just to be very safe, I actually say that people delete the entire account,” she said.

However, Phones said that this means that users will remain dependent on the company to honor its privacy policies.

“The laws did not always remain to ensure the completion of these things,” she said.

Philseld said that her office would not be able to investigate a private company, adding that he would be the position of privacy commissioner in Canada if they wanted to investigate. However, she said that the office is generally involved in data and violations.

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