If you used this ancestry site, remove your data now

Kim Komando ^ | August 7, 2020 | JAMES GELINAS

[gattaca]

Genealogy websites have become increasingly popular in recent years. These platforms are able to scour the web in search of documents and archival data, which can help users build historically accurate family trees.

There’s also another side to genealogy websites that has attracted attention from privacy advocates: DNA testing. Websites like Ancestry.com can use DNA testing to find matches, but the fact that these platforms store this information on their end means that hackers could try and steal it. Tap or click here to see how Ancestry.com suffered a huge data breach.

Since genealogy websites collect so much data, their user database can be quite valuable in the corporate world. And that’s exactly what’s happening to Ancestry.com thanks to an acquisition by Blackstone — its new parent company. This means if you sent your DNA to Ancestry, Blackstone has it now. Here’s how you can remove it.

Blackstone buys out Ancestry.com According to new reports from Reuters, the multinational private equity firm Blackstone Group has purchased Ancestry.com for the staggering price of $4.7 billion. This acquisition includes all debt accumulated by Ancestry.com as well, which shows just how eager Blackstone is to add the company into its vast portfolio.

Now that Ancestry.com is under new management, you’re probably wondering what kind of company The Blackstone Group is? Well, for starters, Blackstone deals mostly with private equity, credit and hedge fund investments. Most of its properties are in the financial sector, which makes Ancestry.com a curious purchase altogether.

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Email address Enter your email address SIGN ME UP But if you read between the lines, you can see why the website is so valuable. Ancestry.com is the biggest provider of home DNA testing services, which users can apply towards finding genealogy data and personalized health information.

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.

Of course, if you submitted DNA information to Ancestry.com, this also means your data is at risk of being sold or traded. No, this isn’t illegal either. Once you give the information to Ancestry.com, it’s theirs to use. The terms and conditions more or less spell this out. Tap or click here to see a tool that can read the terms and conditions of websites for you.

I don’t want a hedge fund having access to my DNA. How can I remove the data? Thankfully, if you’re a member of Ancestry.com, you don’t have to settle with leaving your DNA data in Blackstone’s hands. The website gives you an option to expunge your DNA results through its settings menu, and all you’ll need to do it is your Ancestry.com username and password.

Follow these steps to remove your DNA data from Ancestry.com:

Tap or click here to visit Ancestry.com’s DNA settings page. Scroll to the bottom of the Settings page and tap Delete next to Delete DNA Test Results And Revoke Consent to Processing. You’ll be asked for your password next to confirm you want your information removed. Enter your password and tap Delete test results and Revoke Consent. Clicking this removes your results permanently from the website. Unfortunately, you’ll end up losing access to anything you might have learned from taking your test, so we’d recommend writing the information down or taking a screenshot or two before continuing.

Then again, it might not even be worth it to take these DNA tests or use genealogy websites going forward. As we’ve seen in the past, they contain a lot of personal data (that can be bought or sold by third parties) for very little in return. Tap or click here to see another scary ancestry website you should remove your data from.

[IndyTiger]

I went on ancestry two years ago. I was adopted as an infant (I’m 63 now), and wanted to find out the identity of my biological father, something my bio mother refused to provide.

Not only did I find out what I was looking for, (he was a high school classmate of my bio mother), but I also discovered a half-sister I never knew existed, who was adopted by another family three years after me. We have since spoken on the phone and hope to meet someday.

[SunkenCiv]

I don’t want a hedge fund having access to my DNA.

Now that hedge fund will control whether you can replenish your own cells!!! Thanks, I needed a good laugh.

[Grampa Dave]

We discovered my sisters are half-sisters to my older brother and I. Mom started cheating after I was born. A real eye-opener. But I am glad we found out. She has been dead for many years now. Before you do this, ask yourself if you want to know.

Your family sound like the family a new professional in our life has.

They had a new union a couple of Christmas’s ago. With all their known half brothers/sisters and cousins.

One woman in her 40’s was very quiet while everyone was introducing themselves and their relationship.

Someone asked her how she was related?

She took a moment and said, “I’m related by intercourse like everyone else here!”

There was apparently a stunned silence and a couple started laughing and clapping.

It was a great ice breaker, and now most of them enjoy getting together with their relations due to intercourse!

[ladyjane]

What I didn't know was that I am 35% Germanic Empire

Many Dutch people have German ancestry because centuries ago the Dutch army was filled with German mercenaries.

I have a friend who thought he was 100% Dutch, he's even a member of the Holland Society. It turns out his DNA test showed a lot of German.

[a fool in paradise]

Texas driver’s licenses have required you to submit fingerprints since the 1990s but you cannot get a replacement ID by using your fingerprints (must show other paperwork) so what are they REALLY collecting it for and why must you submit prints from BOTH hands?

[cherry]

if one member of a family group sends in their dna, the whole family is in the books....we're all cooked...

sounds innocent enough...check your dna,etc....but it becomes part of a massive data collection that our govt and every govt and every industry has and can use...

luckily, we're not exceptional in any way...lol

[Chickensoup]

You may remove your information but it doesn’t mean there isn’t a copy

[PeteB570]

Indian Princess somewhere in the family history of my wife’s father’s side of the tree. At least that was the story.

DNA check had nada, zip, nothing.

She was almost all from the Ireland, England Islands with a touch of Germanic.

[MV=PY]

"Texas driver’s licenses have required you to submit fingerprints since the 1990s but you cannot get a replacement ID by using your fingerprints (must show other paperwork) so what are they REALLY collecting it for and why must you submit prints from BOTH hands?"

Thanks, I didn't know that.

Great question.

[martin_fierro]

	Genetic Genealogy
Send FReepmail if you want on/off GGP list Marty = Paternal Haplogroup O(2?)(M175) Maternal Haplogroup H
GG LINKS: African Ancestry FamilyTree DNA Int'l Society of Genetic Genealogy Nat'l Geographic Genographic Project Oxford Ancestors RelativeGenetics ysearch
The List of Ping Lists

[Grampa Dave]

What service is your post from?

Thanks

[Grampa Dave]

The same here on both sides of my family.

My maternal side has well over a 100+ Genealogy documents/records of Cherokee and other American Indians cited and showing birth records, marriages, service in the military, deaths and other standard genealogy docs. We never heard a thing about Cherokee/Indian blood or relatives from our parents, aunts/parents and grandparents about any Indian blood.

Yet, I have 4th generation grandparents with documented records as noted above.

Supposedly, my dad’s ancestors had Cherokee and American Indian blood. There is zero DNA and zero paper documents showing, any Cherokee or American Indian blood.

There are some interesting theories of how DNA games have been played here.

[Wiser now]

Some of us didn’t know that already. Some of us spent $100, the cost of the test, and were able to find our sperm dono,...........uh, I mean my father.
Oh, the secrets my parents, birth and adopted both, thought they took to the grave.

[nutmeg]

Very interesting... Thanks.

[MikelTackNailer]

Cyber and personal security alert, if you haven’t seen it.

[PistolPaknMama]

We don’t inherit all of our ancestors’ DNA in tact, just parts of it. One great great grandchild may show French heritage and another great great grandchild may show none because that child didn’t inherit that particular DNA. It also depends on the testing company. I don’t put a lot of faith in their ethnic testing, but they all test different areas. I show fairly strong Scandinavian with one company and not at all with the other company I tested with. Just depends on the company’s testing criteria.

[dsc]

“My great great grandmother was 100% North Carolina Cherokee. My cousin for whom she was her great-grandmother had the DNA test and it said she had zero Cherokee blood.”

There was a thread here a while back that asserted the impossibility of determining American Indian ancestry from DNA.

[dayglored]

Security and Privacy ... PING!

You can find all the Windows Ping list threads with FR search: just search on keyword "windowspinglist".

Thanks to MikelTackNailer for the ping!

[MayflowerMadam]

“I’ve seen articles where they end up solving some long-ago murder through these sites and matching the DNA from some distant cousin to the killer.”

Investigation Discovery has a show, “Genetic Detective”, where the genealogist has found several murderers and rapist this way.

[miliantnutcase]

The question is which hat do you wear white or black? ;-)