Congressmen sound alarm over data privacy following 23andMe bankruptcy

Three congressmen from the House Committee connected Energy and Commerce are raising concerns implicit information privateness weeks aft the familial investigating institution 23andMe filed for bankruptcy, putting millions of customers’ idiosyncratic accusation up for sale.

The Republican representatives — Brett Guthrie from Kentucky, Gus Bilirakis from Florida and Gary Palmer from Alaska — sent a missive to 23andMe interim Chief Executive Joe Selsavage connected Thursday requesting answers to respective questions by May 1.

The questions revolve astir the destiny of 23andMe’s familial database, which includes DNA accusation from much than 15 cardinal people. The congressmen asked the institution however it would support the information successful an lawsuit of a merchantability and however it would vet imaginable buyers.

The institution did not instantly respond to a petition for comment.

23andMe declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy successful March and received authorization from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri to merchantability substantially each its assets. The company, founded successful 2006 and erstwhile valued astatine $6 billion, popularized at-home DNA trial kits and spurred a inclination of ancestry hunting and amateur transgression investigations.

But the task failed to found a sustainable concern model, and arsenic it struggles to enactment afloat, experts, customers and authorities officials are disquieted familial accusation could autumn into the incorrect hands.

“Given the deficiency of HIPAA protections, the patchwork of authorities laws covering familial privacy, and the uncertainty surrounding what happens to lawsuit accusation should a merchantability of the institution oregon lawsuit information and accusation transpire, we are acrophobic that this trove of delicate accusation is astatine hazard of being compromised,” the Energy and Commerce missive said.

Though immoderate purchaser of 23andMe indispensable hold to comply with the company’s privateness policy, that argumentation tin beryllium unilaterally changed astatine immoderate time, according to Sara Geoghegan, elder counsel astatine the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

“I would beryllium precise acrophobic if I had fixed a swab to 23andMe,” Geoghegan said. “There is small we tin bash to power what happens to it.”

The bankruptcy filing prompted California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta to contented a user alert urging customers to delete the information they had provided to the company.

“Given 23andMe’s reported fiscal distress, I punctual Californians to see invoking their rights and destruct immoderate samples of familial worldly held by the company,” Bonta wrote.

The 23andMe website crashed pursuing the informing arsenic customers rushed to log in, the Wall Street Journal reported. Thursday’s missive raised the issue, noting that “customers are experiencing issues accessing and deleting their data.”

Guthrie, Bilirakis and Palmer are the latest authorities officials to dependable interest implicit the situation. The House Committee connected Oversight and Government Reform and the Federal Trade Commission person besides sent letters to 23andMe precocious inquiring astir information protection.

23andMe issued an unfastened missive to customers successful precocious March assuring them that their information would stay protected successful the lawsuit of a sale.