Are your DNA results secure?

This is not a happy report.

When the Internet was first established, it became the venue for small businesses and many new jobs for the average person. Code-driven databases changed our way of doing things and it was good. We’ve come a long way, baby. But have we?

All of the wonderful technology is falling into the hands of large companies who use the data to regulate behavior, play politics, and gain more wealth and fame. It is the combined control of a few individuals who make all of the decisions, take our data, mine, and sell it for big bucks.

And while we are finally realizing how such profoundly rich companies and abuse of power affects us personally, the news that I am about to tell you is even more invasive into our privacy and out of our control. If you had DNA testing performed by 23orme or Ancestry.com, that data is or will be sold elsewhere, to be used against you somewhere down the road. Boy oh boy, there is tons of personal information included in genealogy research (just about everything to be known about us), from actual facts to family stories, personal health, and DNA.

The current owner of Ancestry.com is the Blackstone Group. This company closed the deal on a majority stake in Ancestry during the pandemic in December of 2020. Price: $4.7 billion dollars. By all means, please investigate this company for yourself.

Read this quote from Wikipedia:

“In 2019, a United Nations report found that Blackstone’s massive purchasing of single-family homes after the financial crisis of 2007–2008 had “devastating consequences.” The report alleged that Blackstone had abused tenants with exorbitant fees, rent hikes, and aggressive eviction practices and that Blackstone’s real estate practices had a disproportionate impact on communities of color, in part because the company targeted foreclosures resulting from subprime loans.

The report also condemned Blackstone for “using its significant resources and political leverage to undermine domestic laws and policies that would, in fact, improve access to adequate housing.” Blackstone spent at least $6.2 million to defeat California’s Proposition 10, which would have allowed cities to enact rent control. Blackstone is a member of the Real Estate Roundtable, a special interest…