You do not need to erase your DNA information from Ancestry

 

If you don't have time to read this post, you might want to skip to the end of the post and at least read the last two paragraphs.

In a recent article, James Gelinas of Komando.com cautioned users of Ancestry.com who have taken the Ancestry.com DNA Test to delete their files. See "If you used this ancestry site, remove your data now." This article appears on the popular computer tech website, Kim Komando. 

My question is why would you want to do that? The article's recommendation is based on the fact that a majority interest in Ancestry.com was purchased by "The Blackstone Group" actually, Blackstone Capital Partners VIII. See my post entitled, "Ancestry.com selling 75% interest to Blackstone for $4.7 billion." Again my question is why would you want to erase your DNA testing results and matches from Ancestry?

The Komando article speculates as follows:

Ancestry.com boasts more than 3 million paying customers from around the world, and the DNA data it manages is highly valuable to anyone who would be interested in selling it to, say, pharmaceutical companies or medical data firms. It’s almost a no-brainer that a big hedge-fund company would want a slice of the pie. 

The clincher seems to be that:

Of course, if you submitted DNA information to Ancestry.com, this also means your data is at risk of being sold or traded.

Duh! That was always the case. In fact, the DNA part of Ancestry is handled by a subsidiary of Ancestry LLC doing business as AncestryDNA. Here is the summary from Wikipedia: Ancestry.com.

AncestryDNA is a subsidiary of Ancestry LLC. AncestryDNA offers a direct-to-consumer genealogical DNA test. Consumers provide a sample of their DNA to the company for analysis. AncestryDNA then uses DNA sequences to infer family relationships with other Ancestry DNA users and to provide what it calls an "ethnicity estimate". Previously, Ancestry.com also offered paternal Y-chromosome DNA and maternal mitochondrial DNA tests, but those were discontinued in June 2014. The company describes the technical process of testing in a scientific white paper. In July 2020, the company claimed that their database contained 18<https://www.ancestry.com/corporate/about-ancestry/our-story> million completed DNA kits bought by customers.

Ancestry DNA is commonly used for donor conceived persons to find their biological siblings and in some cases their sperm or egg donor.

The testing itself is performed by Quest Diagnostics.

If you read the agreement or read the Terms and Conditions at the bottom of the Ancestry.com website pages and provided to you when you purchased your DNA test kit from AncestryDNA, you would already know the following (See https://www.ancestry.com/cs/legal/privacystatement#GeneticInformation):

7.  What Information Do We Share, when Do We Share It and Who are the Recipients?

Ancestry does not share your individual Personal Information (including your Genetic Information) with third-parties except as described in this Privacy Statement or with your additional consent. We do not voluntarily share your information with law enforcement. Also, we will not share your Genetic Information with insurance companies, employers, or third-party marketers without your express consent.

NOTE: Ancestry does not sell your Personal Information.

Ancestry may share the following categories of Personal Information about you or your use of the Services with the types of entities set forth in this section for business purposes (as defined by applicable law), or as required by applicable law:

Identifiers (such as name, address, email address); Account Information (such as shipping address); Credit Card/Payment Information; Computer or Mobile Device Information; Audio and Visual information (such as recordings of calls with Ancestry Member Services or information voluntarily shared when doing consumer insights research); Inference data about you; Other Protected Classifications (such as gender and marital status); Health Information as well as Biological, Physiological, or Behavioral Traits and anything else mentioned in the table below.

This quote is part of a rather extensive document but it is interesting reading. Also, the Terms and Conditions tells you how to delete your personal information if you wish to do so. 

One very important part of this process that the Kim Komando article apparently ignores is that can and should download all your DNA data before deleting the file on Ancestry.com. Hmm. Why would you want to delete your own DNA information? Read the Terms and Conditions carefully and you will see that the guidance given by the Kim Komando website was ill-conceived, misleading, and would end up with you losing your own DNA data that you paid for. 

Good Luck if you followed the article's instructions before doing your own research!