ETA: Noting here to be clear (and a tip of the virtual hat to @fandom-geek for the suggestion that this be pointed out up front): no actual DNA info was linked.

That said, please take note:

Via @[email protected] over at Mastodon: “They just sent out an innocuous sounding email about [a] change in Terms of Service.

“If you do not respond rejecting the change, you will give up the ability to be part of the class action lawsuits that are being filed, or take action in court against them.”

First, let’s address the fact that hackers recently accessed the personal data of about 14,000 23andMe customers. Because of how 23andMe works—it has a “DNA Relatives” feature that lets users find people they are probably related to—this breach created 6.9 million “other users” who had data stolen in the breach, according to reporting by TechCrunch. This data included people’s names, birth year, relationships, percentage of DNA shared with other 23andMe users, and ancestry reports.

[...]

Getting your DNA or your loved ones’ DNA sequenced means you are potentially putting people who are related to those people at risk in ways that are easily predictable, but also in ways we cannot yet predict because these databases are still relatively new. I am writing this article right now because of the hack, but my stance on this issue has been the same for years, for reasons outside of the hack. In 2016, I moderated a panel at SXSW called “Is Your Biological Data Safe?,” which was broadly about the privacy implications of companies and other entities creating gigantic databases of people’s genetic code. This panel’s experts included a 23andMe executive as well as an FBI field agent. Everyone on the panel and everyone in the industry agrees that genetic information is potentially very sensitive, and the use of DNA to solve crimes is obviously well established.  At the time, many of the possible dangers of providing your genome to a DNA sequencing company were hypothetical. Since then, many of the hypothetical issues we discussed have become a reality in one way or another. For example, on that panel, we discussed the work of an artist who was turning lost strands of hair, wads of chewing gum, and other found DNA into visual genetic “portraits” of people. Last year, the Edmonton Police Service, using a company called Parabon, used a similar process to create 3D images of crime suspects using DNA from the case. The police had no idea if the portrait they generated actually looked like the suspect they wanted, and the practice is incredibly concerning. To its credit, 23andMe itself has steadfastly resisted law enforcement requests for information, but other large databases of genetic information have been used to solve crimes. Both 23andMe and Ancestry are regularly the recipients of law enforcement requests for data, meaning police do see these companies as potentially valuable data mines. 

"Hackers stealing data from a genetic testing company" sounds like a cyberpunk rpg side mission.

If you've ever used 23andMe to learn more about your family ancestry, you could be eligible for compensation due to a class-action lawsuit against the company.

Law firms in Toronto and Vancouver launched a class-action lawsuit against 23andMe this week in response to a data breach that exposed users’ highly sensitive and valuable personal information earlier this year.

"The action alleges that contrary to their promises, statements and representations, as well as the privacy regulation and industry standards applicable to them, [23andMe] did not introduce, implement or maintain proper or adequate data retention and data protection practices," reads the lawsuit.

Full article

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

(via Genetics firm 23andMe says user data stolen in credential stuffing attack)

gee how UNEXPECTED

except for everybody that has been expecting this to happen...

Those people that buy everyone in their family ancestry DNA kits as gifts have to know some shit right? Otherwise what's the point of paying all these money to examine the same DNA? All my family members just use my own to figure out theirs. Especially my sister who would logically have the same results as me.

Moral of the story: if a family member buys you a DNA kit your world is about to turn upside down.

https://twitter.com/LauvxHoney/status/1731007322707619945

Imagine my shock discovering that a DNA testing company uses ethnic identity markers and not arbitrary political identities! Here are my Eurobean Hwhite Eastern Euro Colonizer Jew Zionist DNA results btw :^))))

Well that's disturbing...

Oh great. :/

Hackers Selling Stolen Customer DNA Data From 23AndMe, Company Faces Class Action Lawsuit

Oct. 9, 2023

Biotech company 23andMe Inc. allegedly failed to protect the genetic information of thousands of people that was exposed in a data breach announced Oct. 6, a proposed federal class action said.

Monica Santana and Paula Kleynburd alleged that 23andMe, a provider of genetic testing services, maintained their personal information in a reckless manner and failed to use reasonable and adequate measures to keep their data safe.

Information exposed in the breach included names, sex, date of birth, genetic ancestry results, profile photos, and geographical location, according to a complaint filed Monday in the US District Court for the Northern District of California.

Some of the information has appeared for sale online, including that of prominent figures such as Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and Sergey Brin, according to a press account cited in the lawsuit.

The company also failed to provide prompt and adequate notice of the incident, the complaint said. 23andMe didn’t respond immediately to a Bloomberg Law request for comment.

Read more

See 🤷🏽‍♀️. Willingly giving up your DNA to a genetic testing company that's a test done for entertainment purposes for what? Didn't this happen before or was that GedMatch. It doesn't mention it in this article, but the one I read about a week ago stated that the 23andMe hackers were going after data for those showing results for Ashkenazi and Chinese descent. The timing is rather...interesting.

I was waiting for this shit to hit the fan. 23andMe was tryna be subtle about the whole thing. "When asked about the post, the company initially denied that the information was legitimate, calling it a 'misleading claim.'"

Whole time:

Now the shit going to the highest bidders. Chile.

Does anyone else on 23andMe have cousin matches who are absolutely from the same family line but they don’t show up in each other’s “relatives in common” list?

Tracking this one family name has proven difficult. A few years back, I connected with a second cousin with that name, and it’s taken a few years, but I found another one, this time a fourth cousin! Yet, those two people aren’t in each other’s “relatives in common” list?

Is the amount of shared dna too small, even though the second cousin and fourth cousin would be the same distance apart of myself and the fourth cousin? Weird.

23andme sent me an email that they've recently gone more in depth with "British/Irish genetic groups" and to check out my improved results and I am slightly shocked and saddened to discover that one of my ancestors almost certainly did, in fact, eat pussy in Birmingham :(

I absolutely get your scepticism. I'm usually pretty liberal but my DNA and my finger prints is something I'm conservative about. I needed a new ID and passport recently and it is now a must in my country to give your finger prints. I still don't feel comfortable with that. I'm as far away from someone who breaks the law as one can be (goody two shoes all the way) but I still don't trust anyone with it. Even if the government really doesn't do anything bad with it and tries to protect my data, a protection is only safe as long as someone doesn't crack it. And that usually happens eventually if people have the motivation to do it. While I would actually love to find more relatives of mine, giving my DNA to a private company, especially one that has its seat in the US, is a big no for me.

Oh I feel you completely. My parents were both rebellious and I was the total opposite of that. I was very academic, went to church every week, never went out. So my impulse is to follow the rules but because of my mum - and possibly because of my neurodivergent, weird brain - I also have an impulse to question rules before I decide to follow them. So if someone says this is the rule and this is why, and it makes sense, I will follow it to the end of the earth. But if they say it's a rule and I can't understand the logic behind it, and they can't explain it, I will do whatever I want lol.

Anyway, yeah I don't necessarily trust a big company to keep my DNA safe. I actually went and read up on the UK branch and they say they fight every request but sometimes they have to give DNA over because it's a legal requirement. And I can't see why the government couldn't just at any time change the rules and decide that if the company wants to operate in the UK they have to hand over their records. And that frightens me. I know we all hand over data all the time but when I have the opportunity to avoid it, I would like to.

While we've been talking about this I remembered a situation that shows how seriously my mum drilled this into me. I was maybe 9 or 10 and we went on a school trip to the Netherlands. I was young so the detail is a little fuzzy but we went to a theme park on the way home, I can't remember which one. And for some reason there was a group there doing some kind of big health study? And they were collecting cheek swabs from kids in the park and you got a free t shirt if you gave them a swab. It's really dodgy, I almost feel like I made it up but I'm so so sure this happened. But I was the only kid in my class who refused to give a swab because I didn't want to give my DNA to someone when I didn't know what they'd do with it. They all had these cool free t-shirts and I was so jealous but I felt that strongly about it, even at that age.!

Exploring Igbo ancestry: A basic guide for Black Americans, Afro-Caribbeans, Afro-Latinos, and others looking to connect with their Igbo roots

So, you’ve just received your DNA results and discovered that you are from the Igbo ethnic group in Nigeria – where do you begin? Well, first of all, congratulations and welcome! Uncovering your ancestry is an exciting revelation that opens the door to a rich cultural heritage. Over the years, we’ve received messages from various individuals with questions about where to start, and we understand…

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Genetic tester 23andMe’s hacked data on Jewish users offered for sale online

Are you Black?

No, I'm part-Mexican and part-white.

(However, when I did 23andMe my ancestry composition did reveal this. Maybe I can tell people I'm 3.2% Black and seem more interesting?)