Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson stated he’s watching on 23andMe’s insolvency case and the business’s organized sale due to the fact that of personal privacy issues connected to hereditary screening information. 23andMe and its future owner should support the business’s personal privacy guarantees, Ferguson stated in a letter sent out the other day to agents of the United States Trustee Program, a Justice Department department that supervises administration of personal bankruptcy procedures.

“As Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, I write to express the FTC’s interests and concerns relating to the potential sale or transfer of millions of American consumers’ sensitive personal information,” Ferguson composed. He continued:

As you might understand, 23andMe gathers and holds delicate, immutable, recognizable individual details about countless American customers who have actually utilized the Company’s hereditary screening and telehealth services. This consists of hereditary details, biological DNA samples, health details, origins and genealogy info, individual contact info, payment and billing details, and other info, such as messages that hereditary family members can send out each other through the platform.

23andMe’s current personal bankruptcy statement triggered a wave of issue about the fate of hereditary information for its 15 million clients. The business stated that “any buyer of 23andMe will be required to comply with our privacy policy and with all applicable law with respect to the treatment of customer data.” Lots of users responded to the news by erasing their information, though tech issues obviously associated to increased site traffic made that procedure challenging.

23andMe’s capability to protect user information is likewise a factor for issue. Hackers took origins information for 6.9 million 23andMe users, the business validated in December 2023.

The personal bankruptcy is being supervised in United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.

FTC: Bankruptcy law secures clients

Ferguson’s letter indicate numerous guarantees made by 23andMe and states these promises should be maintained. “The FTC believes that, consistent with Section 363(b)(1) of the Bankruptcy Code, these types of promises to consumers must be kept. This means that any bankruptcy-related sale or transfer involving 23andMe users’ personal information and biological samples will be subject to the representations the Company has made to users about both privacy and data security, and which users relied upon in providing their sensitive data to the Company,” he composed. “Moreover, as promised by 23andMe, any purchaser should expressly agree to be bound by and adhere to the terms of 23andMe’s privacy policies and applicable law, including as to any changes it subsequently makes to those policies.”