Republican members associated with the House Energy and Commerce Committee are exploring 23 and 23 and bankruptcy, out of concern for American DNA information.
The troubled genome company has been in a spiral of decline since the unfortunate data breach in 2023. The company has since suffered a whirlpool of conflict and controversy, including layoffs, litigation and a decline in economic valuation. In March, it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and has been looking for a buyer’s genetic data business ever since.
On Friday, Congressman Brett Gusri (By-ky), Gus Bilakis (R-FL), Gary Palmer (R-AL), Sent a letter 23AndMe asked several times about the company’s processing of American data. The letter noted that the judge “recently ruled that 23andme has the right to sell sensitive medical and genetic information from its 15 million customers, which is considered the company’s most valuable asset” and noted that “we lack the federal integrated data privacy and security laws, and we wrote that we expressed concern about the security of Americans’ most sensitive personal information.”
The letter noted that some customers reported difficulties in deleting their accounts and information and asked the company to explain how many deletion requests had been met. It also asked the company if it had a “review process” to determine if its potential buyers have a “history of implementing data security protections and complying with department, state, or any other data privacy and security laws.”
It should be noted that while Republican letters complained about the lack of “federal integrated data privacy” laws, lawmakers were just blaming it for it given the fact that there have been multiple (failed) attempts to pass such laws.
Gizmodo contacted 23andme for comment.
Attention to 23andMe user data may be high, although the company has repeatedly promised to continue to protect customer information. one Press release From March noted that “to constitute a qualified bid, potential buyers must agree, among other requirements, to comply with 23andMe’s consumer privacy policy and all laws applicable to customer data processing.” In other words, the company’s current commitment to data privacy guarantees will be taken to any company that purchases the business.
Given the fact that the company has allowed the damage to user information through previous data leaks, you might think that isn’t much. If so, you can still ask the company to delete your information through the process described hereprovided by the Electronic Border Foundation.
