# California posts public warning the day before 23andme goes bankrupt **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 24, 2025, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-posts-public-warning-the-day-before-23andme-goes-bankrupt/1016009 "2025-03-24T06:25:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-posts-public-warning-the-day-before-23andme-goes-bankrupt/1016009/21 "2025-03-24T17:08:36Z")
> [@orcenio](#): > > What annoyed me was how far they were stretching the truth in interpreting people’s genes. You are % this, % that, % other. Was there something wrong with their methodology? I thought it was similar to the principles discussed in the book _Seven Daughters of Eve_. Is that not reliable? Many of my relatives did it, and we enjoyed comparing our ancestry notes, especially across marriages. Was it all fake, or…? ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-posts-public-warning-the-day-before-23andme-goes-bankrupt/1016009/22 "2025-03-24T17:11:52Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Just want to thank @Reply . I sent that article to my Mom and sister and they are going to remove their data. Welcome. You could thank the California AG instead 🙂 I only knew of this because of them, and was able to request a deletion before the news widely broke. How sneaky of 23andme to make the announcement Sunday night ☹ Their open letter to customers ([An Open Letter to 23andMe Customers - 23andMe Blog](https://blog.23andme.com/articles/open-letter)) didn’t instill any faith either. That buyers must comply with “applicable law” isn’t much of a guarantee when there aren’t many applicable laws to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-posts-public-warning-the-day-before-23andme-goes-bankrupt/1016009/23 "2025-03-24T17:20:48Z")
There are limits to what the profiles really mean. If I take the genetic profile of a thousand people who are French, is the profile one of “the French”. This is an important question. How can one accurately generalize these profiles to the public? This is the reason why they would constantly retool and re calculate their estimates. You’re 40% this, 60% that…or maybe you’re 65% or perhaps what we consider “French genes” is too broad? too narrow? it doesn’t take into account what it means to be “French” since French is a chimera of many non-interrelated groups… or it is of 5 interrelated groups but those groups are not distinguishable at the French borders… or SOME ARE because we have it on good asurences that this is a profile of Louis XVI and he is the standard to Frenchness while the north of France is too polluted with Norsemen… no, perhaps… Its a whole lotta “judgement calls” no different to eyeballing people on the street to see if they match up to your personal profile of “Mexican” or “Haitian” or “Russian” sure your personal profile might be accurate but within what error? or does this really define the genetic histories of people when we have so little context? Maybe? …but not with the accuracies as reported. Wouldn’t have been as critical if the company wasn’t so damn certain with their predictions. “You are…” If they contextualized the info within the imperfect nature of profiling. stuff like this. People have a right to know what “accuracy” means. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-posts-public-warning-the-day-before-23andme-goes-bankrupt/1016009/24 "2025-03-24T17:28:05Z")
My 23andMe report didn’t use nomenclature like “French,” but the more accurate, if perhaps less emotionally satisfying, “Southern European.” In some cases, there are characteristic genetic markers; for example, associated with founder effects for small populations that historically haven’t intermarried (sic) much, such as Jews of different regions and some Asian and African groups that can be predicted with a higher level of accuracy. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-posts-public-warning-the-day-before-23andme-goes-bankrupt/1016009/25 "2025-03-24T17:30:17Z")
Hey, how do you download your data? Just print to PDF? ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-posts-public-warning-the-day-before-23andme-goes-bankrupt/1016009/26 "2025-03-24T17:32:20Z")
I got an interesting result when I did mine, which I haven’t questioned. About 13% of my genetic derivation was defined as Ashkenazi, and in the notes it said about 95% of Ashkenazi people are/were Jewish. One of my great-grandfathers emigrated from Germany, and I have no information where he was before reaching the emigration point; also that’s about the right percentage for a great-grandparent. But if he was Jewish, I’m fairly certain he never told anyone here in the US, and he doesn’t seem to have been practicing at all. He married a woman from a fairly wealthy Christian family in Wisconsin, they made their way to a west coast state and co-founded a Presbyterian church in their city. So it came as a surprise to find out that we might have descended from an ethnically Jewish immigrant. (I should note that I know enough about most of my other ancestors to be pretty sure none of them were Ashkenazi.) ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-posts-public-warning-the-day-before-23andme-goes-bankrupt/1016009/27 "2025-03-24T17:32:56Z")
Yeah. I have no idea why my mom and sister did it. 98.9% Ashkenazi. No shit ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-posts-public-warning-the-day-before-23andme-goes-bankrupt/1016009/28 "2025-03-24T17:34:21Z")
That always makes me laugh because of the trope that “Everybody says they have an Indian princess in their family tree!!!” and I always think, yeah, no, that’s not so much a Jewish claim. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-posts-public-warning-the-day-before-23andme-goes-bankrupt/1016009/29 "2025-03-24T17:47:46Z")
Well I have a J.A.P. or two. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-posts-public-warning-the-day-before-23andme-goes-bankrupt/1016009/30 "2025-03-24T17:50:21Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > I think this is a unique case, where people’s very personal information, connected to one’s health information, was not under the protection of HIPAA regulations, and is therefore very vulnerable to end up on the dark web. So, the California AG posted the warning. Is the data already freely available on the Internet, or are they trying to privately flog it for money? I figure it’s only a matter of time. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-posts-public-warning-the-day-before-23andme-goes-bankrupt/1016009/31 "2025-03-24T18:19:56Z")
I believe it’s that the ToS can be significantly altered as it goes thru the bankruptcy process so the new owner may be able to sell your info or use it in other ways that they could not previously based upon the terms when you signed up. ---
**Author:** ![bobsmom101](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobsmom101/32/2867_2.png) [@bobsmom101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobsmom101)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-posts-public-warning-the-day-before-23andme-goes-bankrupt/1016009/32 "2025-03-24T18:27:03Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > > [@orcenio](#): > > > > What annoyed me was how far they were stretching the truth in interpreting people’s genes. You are % this, % that, % other. > > Was there something wrong with their methodology? I thought it was similar to the principles discussed in the book _Seven Daughters of Eve_. Is that not reliable? > > Many of my relatives did it, and we enjoyed comparing our ancestry notes, especially across marriages. Was it all fake, or…? The problem is that they didn’t give you the error bars. If 23 & Me reports you are 4% Honduran, but the real spread could be 0 - 14% then the “4%” is meaninglessly precise. So you get all these people who look at 6% American Native match & think they’re related to Sitting Bull. > [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > One of my great-grandfathers emigrated from Germany, and I have no information where he was before reaching the emigration point; also that’s about the right percentage for a great-grandparent. But if he was Jewish, I’m fairly certain he never told anyone here in the US, and he doesn’t seem to have been practicing at all. The other (most reasonable?) explanation is that he wasn’t really your great-grandfather. One of the side effects of readily avaiable genetic testing was to expose how, um, “fluid” parentage is! ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-posts-public-warning-the-day-before-23andme-goes-bankrupt/1016009/33 "2025-03-24T18:30:24Z")
> [@susan](#): > > That always makes me laugh because of the trope that “Everybody says they have an Indian princess in their family tree!!!” and I always think, yeah, no, that’s not so much a Jewish claim. I don’t know about a ‘princess’, which by the way is nonsense on a couple of levels, not the least of which is that tribes didn’t have that sort of structure. Anyway, my results showed a tiny possibility of Native American blood. It was so small that I dismissed it as a probable error. I did have Mayflower and other early arrivals, so I suppose that it _could_ be possible, but I’m not running out to buy a tomahawk any time soon. My wife’s test showed an equally small possibility of Jewish ancestry. Again, too small to be significant, although her immigrant ancestors were Polish on both sides, so it _could_ be possible. She puts way too much significance in this result and nothing I say can dissuade her. ::shrug:: Anyway, here it is three hours later and I still can’t get a verification code from 23&me. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-posts-public-warning-the-day-before-23andme-goes-bankrupt/1016009/34 "2025-03-24T18:34:33Z")
> [@bobsmom101](#): > > The other (most reasonable?) explanation is that he wasn’t really your great-grandfather. Also possible, I’ve seen it often enough on the TV program. That set of great-grandparents had 6 kids, so it should be possible to find relatives to test, if I were to worry about it. I would suspect my grandmother (daughter-in-law of that great-grandfather) would be the one to have strayed, she was not as respectable as she might have been. I know, for example, that my father’s older brother was born outside of marriage, although reportedly with the same father. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-posts-public-warning-the-day-before-23andme-goes-bankrupt/1016009/35 "2025-03-24T18:37:14Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > That buyers must comply with “applicable law” isn’t much of a guarantee when there aren’t many applicable laws to begin with. … and possibly in a country far, far away… Like China… Now that would be a hoot ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-posts-public-warning-the-day-before-23andme-goes-bankrupt/1016009/36 "2025-03-24T19:00:21Z")
> [@susan](#): > > That always makes me laugh because of the trope that “Everybody says they have an Indian princess in their family tree!!!” and I always think, yeah, no, that’s not so much a Jewish claim. My mom and sister were able to easily remove the data within the last hour or so. It turns out that my niece has her data in there too. Her other side of the family is half Jewish and half something else. I just found out from my mom that her dad’s mom claimed that she was 50% Native American. She was all excited to get her results so she could use them for DEI to help get into a better college. And the results said…Nope. LMAO. She was apparently in denial for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-posts-public-warning-the-day-before-23andme-goes-bankrupt/1016009/37 "2025-03-24T19:06:00Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > claimed that she was 50% Native American. She was all excited to get her results so she could use them for DEI to help get into a better college. This is a whole can of worms\*, in case you didn’t know, but I think different tribes have different criteria for determining membership by lineage, and genetic testing isn’t considered the gold standard for many of them? She might want to look at the particular tribes she’s possibly a part of and look up their specific criteria for membership, regardless of what the genetic test shows. (Edit: Though I guess DEI admissions are being eliminated by the new government, no?) \*: See [blood quantum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_quantum_laws?wprov=sfla1) ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-posts-public-warning-the-day-before-23andme-goes-bankrupt/1016009/38 "2025-03-24T19:08:57Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > She was all excited to get her results so she could use them for DEI to help get into a better college. And the results said…Nope. LMAO. She was apparently in denial for a while. I think with the total war on DEI at the moment it would be better to find a different pathway into her target colleges anyway. Here is the news on the bankrupcy: > **[23andMe files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as co-founder and CEO Wojcicki resigns](https://apnews.com/article/23andme-chapter-11-bankruptcy-wojcicki-resigns-9827549d9171a537e76f60cb950d1823)** > > 23andMe has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and its co-founder and CEO Anne Wojcicki has resigned as the company continues its push to cut costs. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-posts-public-warning-the-day-before-23andme-goes-bankrupt/1016009/39 "2025-03-24T19:14:16Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > This is a whole can of worms\*, in case you didn’t know, but I think different tribes have different criteria for determining membership by lineage, and genetic testing isn’t considered the gold standard for many of them? She might want to look at the particular tribes she’s possibly a part of and look up their specific criteria for membership, regardless of what the genetic test shows. (Edit: Though I guess DEI admissions are being eliminated by the new government, no?) I know. It may well have not worked. Anyway, she is now two years out of grad school and thriving in her chosen career. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2025, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-posts-public-warning-the-day-before-23andme-goes-bankrupt/1016009/40 "2025-03-24T19:21:04Z")
An American who claims to have some Native American ancestry probably does, because a large percentage of Americans do have (a small amount of) Native American ancestry. Cherokee, in particular, is fairly common, as a side effect of the Trail of Tears. Every tribe has different criteria for citizenship. Some don’t have any blood quantum requirement at all, merely a requirement that you have some identifiable ancestor somewhere from the tribe. I think some might not even have that. And in addition to ancestry, I think most require that you have at least some cultural connection to the tribe, as well. As for an “Indian princess”, well… Technically, if you have any Native American ancestor at all, that ancestor likely did, many centuries prior, have some Aztec ancestor or another, because a few people did travel across the continent for trade. And that Aztec ancestor probably did have some member of the Aztec royal family as an ancestor. In the same way, essentially all Europeans are descended from Charlemagne. So many Americans do technically have an “Indian princess” in their family tree; she’s just a lot further back than they think. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-posts-public-warning-the-day-before-23andme-goes-bankrupt/1016009.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/california-posts-public-warning-the-day-before-23andme-goes-bankrupt/1016009.md?page=3)