00:00Thank you, Mr. Chair. As mentioned before, I think it was 15 million people have now signed up and used this service over the years. It's a large number. And I was one of them. I actually got it for free. I was lucky enough to get a free kit.
00:18And at the time, I said, you know, what's there to lose? But I guess now, as my dad says, everything has a price, right? Nothing is free in life. And so I think a lot of people are concerned about the fact that they did this many years ago, and they're worried about what's going on with their data. And they feel like they don't have a sense of control anymore. And, you know, what I'm hearing is that they do have control, though, right, in the sense that they can go online and delete their data.
00:46But when I go to the website on 23andMe.com, it's not readily apparent that 23andMe is going through a bankruptcy right now. In fact, it's not anywhere on the front page of the website. You really have to dig into the website to look into. I have it up right now.
01:03And the other part is there are instructions online on how to delete your data. But even that stuff is kind of buried a little bit. You really have to look for how to delete your data.
01:14I'm actually going and doing it right now. And one of the things it does is you have to go to the settings page. But you have to scroll through the settings page.
01:23And you may almost miss it. And then you click on your 23andMe data. And then even that, it goes through a whole list of things that are happening.
01:32And if there simply was a delete my data page or button somewhere more prominent, then I think it would be easier for a lot of people to feel that control.
01:43And this process would be a lot easier for people who do truly want to delete their data. But that's not quite what's happening. The second thing is, you know, if I didn't know about this, I wasn't reading the news about what's going on, I'd also not know until maybe it's too late what's happened to my data and where it ended up.
02:06And so I guess my question, maybe this was already asked, Mr. Celsovich, if you sell the data to a third party in this bankruptcy, can they sell the data to other companies after that?
02:18So first, let me address a couple of questions.
02:21Well, just to answer my question, can they sell the data? Can the company that receives this data through a sale in bankruptcy then sell the data to another company?
02:31The companies that are two potential companies that are acquiring 23andMe as potential bidders are adopting and stepping into the shoes of the company and adopting the privacy policies and consents of...
02:44But you could sell it to a company that then sells it to another third party, who then sells it to another third party.
02:50And then you end up with a situation where the genetic data is out there and multiple companies own my genetic data and the millions of people's genetic data. Is that correct?
03:04Congressman, with all due respect, I'm, you know, not a legal expert in this.
03:08But, you know, basically the potential acquirers of 23andMe are adopting the privacy policies and consents of 23andMe where it does allow for the sale of the assets of the company.
03:20So, yes, the answer to my question is yes.
03:22So then if you, let's say, a health care company bought the data, professor, who couldn't the health care company then look at your genetic data and raise your premiums because they see some bad genetics in there, for instance?
03:40Can we have a health care system that now has all your genetic information and then will adjust premiums based on what they think is risk for them?
03:49Yeah, thank you so much, Congressman, for that question.
03:51I do think that genetic data is particularly sensitive because of those types of risks that the way in which you do have insurance companies and other corporations trying to link up genetic predispositions, even, for example, you know, financial literacy and accountability.
04:08So not just for insurance issues, perhaps even other types of issues could be open to abuse.
04:16And then couldn't a foreign actor either hack into the data or even acquire the data as well and then use that and posing a national security threat?
04:27Yeah, absolutely.
04:28I think that part of what was deeply concerning, I understand about the issue of credential stuffing as the source of the cyber attack or the risk this and the prior breach.
04:42But nonetheless, what we did see was a hacker named Gollum post the DNA, particularly of the Chinese and Jewish ancestry on the dark web.
04:53So I just deleted my data.
04:55I hope everyone at home has the opportunity to do so, does so.
04:58And I hope a good actor does buy this data because it could slip into the wrong hands.
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