Cassandre Coyer reports:
Genetic testing company Gene by Gene Ltd. was hit with a proposed class action accusing it of sharing the DNA testing results of more than 10,000 customers with Alphabet Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc. without their knowledge or consent.
Gene by Gene, which conducts business as FamilyTreeDNA, deployed tracking tools—often called pixels—on its website to share details about its users’ ancestry, DNA relatives, health traits, and predispositions with third parties, violating the Illinois Genetic Information Privacy Act, according to a complaint filed Thursday in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Read more at Bloomberg Law (sub. req.)
From their website:
How is my privacy protected?
Your privacy is of utmost importance to us. Therefore, you choose how your genetic information is used and shared with others. We use industry-standard security practices to store your DNA sample, your DNA test results, and other personal data that you provide to us. Additionally, we store DNA test results and samples without names or other common identifying information.
If that was their privacy notice before sharing with Google and Meta, could the FTC also go after them for deceptive practices?