Ask a Data Ethicist:
The recent meltdown of 23andme and what might become of their DNA database got me thinking about this question:
What happens to your data when a company goes bankrupt?
To say the past year has been a tough one for germany rcs data 23andme is an understatement. This latest turn of events, which involves infighting between management and the board, a wholesale resignation of the board, and the delisting of their stock is in addition to the massive data breach the company suffered in the fall of 2023 that led to investigations by privacy regulators and a $30 million lawsuit settlement.
Your Data Is Their Asset
The story of 23andme is the classic tale of a Silicon Valley startup gone wrong. An audacious, big-picture vision was pitched by a well-connected CEO. It raised a bunch of money based on a speculative business model that turned out to be ill-conceived. You could insert “WeWork” and tell the same story … except the stakes for 23andme’s demise involve the DNA data of millions of people. Even if we have never personally used this service, our relatives may have used it. This was how the Golden State killer was caught, using DNA matching from a similar type of genetic ancestry site. One study about genetic databases in general published in Science noted:
“We project that about 60% of the searches for individuals of European descent will result in a third-cousin or closer match, which theoretically allows their identification using demographic identifiers.