Item — HN Reader

Sure you can delete your data, but guess what, they'll retain it anyways under "regulatory obligations". I've gone back and forth with their privacy team and this is the last response:

    "This is a follow-up from the 23andMe Team. To clarify, we and our laboratory vendors are bound by various legal and regulatory obligations that may necessitate retention of certain information. We want to assure you that our data retention program adheres to applicable legal requirements which can vary depending on what country or state a customer lives in, the state a contracted laboratory is located in, and any applicable federal or state licensing obligations related to the ancestry and health products we sell. We can confirm that samples and genetic testing results are deleted in accordance with applicable law and any legal retention obligation serves as a proper exception related to a data deletion request under data privacy laws."

2 comments

What did you ask them to get this response? E.g. did you request to delete your data, then followed up over email to confirm it was deleted? Also, are you based in California?

Yes California. I've been asking what data is being retained per their privacy policy and here is the much longer response:

"Your Genetic Information, date of birth, and sex will be retained by 23andMe and our third party genotyping laboratory as required for compliance with applicable legal obligations, including the U.S. Federal Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA), California Business and Professional Code Section 1265, and College of American Pathologists accreditation requirements.

It is important to understand that the information stored is distinct from the raw genotype data available within your account. The raw data we receive from the lab has not been processed by our interpretation software to produce your individual-level genotype data (in your account).

You can read more about our retention requirements in the retention of personal information section of our Privacy Statement."

I'm unclear - so what does get deleted? Just unlinks your name from the genetic data?

It seems like you can sue them. This is purely legal's domain.