23andMe customers struggle to delete their data

The 23andme computer system DNA-tested company announced that it was that it was Admission,

The firm says that it has now solved IT problems due to increase in traffic on its website at the beginning of the week.

But users have reported ongoing difficulties as they scramble to protect their genetic information, health history and description of the lineage.

Many people have successfully removed their data, have also told the BBC of their ongoing concerns about the future of 23andme.

The company on Sunday filed chapter 11 for insolvency protection to sell itself through the court-reserved process.

“If 23andme is being sold, my data can be sold, from what I hear,” said 52 -year -old Daniel Landrisina of Maryland. Ms. Landrisina signed up for 23andme in 2018 to join her father’s family side members.

“Is the health insurance company preventing the company from buying its data and then using it to determine if I get health insurance or how much I have to pay for it?”

For now, 23andme “will not voluntarily share your personal information with insurance companies, company” Current privacy statement States.

But the future is less. 23andme proposed May 14 auction its assets may involve Genetic data of its millions of customers.

To save herself, Ms. Landrisina said that she tried to log in several times on Tuesday morning, to log in to her 23andme account on her phone and a web browser.

She was one of the several customers, which was said to complete the login process by email using two-factor authentication to verify her identity.

He said that he did not receive a verification code until evening, and only after a ten -minute window saw it that the code was finished to use.

Earlier in the day, the company’s online chat service advised him to try again again due to an increase in traffic on the website. It was not till Tuesday night that she was able to withdraw her account from the company’s database.

“If someone has any problem regarding reaching their account or removing their data, they can go to us Customer care site For support, “a 23andme spokesman said in response to the BBC investigation.

The company did not respond to subsequent emails, in which the customer’s complaints were learned about the BBC.

Polyn Long of Alabama also said that he made several efforts to reach his account starting on Tuesday morning.

“This has been a bad dream and I am going to be more cautious about doing anything online,” Ms. Long told the BBC in an email.

She said that she waited for two hours to chat with the customer service agent. She was finally able to lift her account by Tuesday evening, but expressed doubts about whether the company had actually removed its information.

“I am worried that 23andme will hold on data,” said Ms. Long.

According to 23andme, removal of an account and related data will permanently remove data connected to all profiles within the account.

Attorney General of many American states including California, Arizona, South Carolina and New York has advised 23andme customers to advise to purify their information from the database of the firm, which has been collected during its years in the operation, given the sensitivity of that material.

“Every person will have a separate hunger for risk and will give importance to their personal information differently,” the Attorney General Rob Bont of California told by phone on Monday.

“It’s up to them what they do, but I wanted to advise them about their right to remove them.”

On Friday, Mr. Bonta Released A consumer warning offers users a step-by-step guide to do what to do as a sign of the 23andme financial crisis.

“This is exactly the moment when you remind you of the rights and safety, so you can determine whether and how you want to exercise those rights,” said Mr. Bonta.

According to 23andmeAny buyer of the company will have to follow laws that apply to the customer’s data being treated, and any transaction will be subject to customary regulatory approval.

Customers who had earlier asked 23andme to store DNA sample may ask that it is destroyed.

For users selected in the 23andme research program, personal information will no longer be used in future research projects, the company said.

23andme said it would continue to protect the customer’s data as it is placed as it is. Privacy Policy,

But it was accepted that if it was “involved in the sales of insolvency, merger, acquisition, restructuring, or assets, then your personal information could be accessed, sold or transferred as part of that transaction.”

It says that its privacy statement will apply to personal information when transferred to the new unit.

“A new company will have to continue managing customer data under the privacy policy,” said Anya Prince, a professor at the University of Iowa College of Law.

But, Prince Note, the company also says that it “can change its privacy statement”, “Leaving the door open for a new company, changing how this customer manages the data.

Georgia’s 62 -year -old Mitchell Mitchell Louis said that she found the process of removing her data more than another attempt a few months ago, when she was subject to a waiting period.

“It was very easy and was removed almost immediately,” Ms. Lewis told the BBC in an email on Tuesday. “I was not really very concerned about privacy issues or hacking or anything, but this is not the first time when 23andme issues were there.”

In 2023, millions of 23nd customer accounts were compromised in large -scale data violations. The company reached the disposal of $ 30 million from Breach in September.

Ms. Lewis, who used the 23andme Test kit in 2008, said it was not difficult to participate with the company.

“I rarely reach more than 23andme now,” he said.

Some customers have said that experience provides a lesson.

“If I had to do all this again, I would not have done this,” said Ms. Landrisina. “The advantage does not suggest that I think now there is the disadvantage of taking out my DNA, it is probably being sold. It is very related.”