Privacy Law Commons^™

Genealogy Sites And Adoptions–Connecting Families Or Ruining Them?, Taylor Bialek

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

23andme: Attack Of The Clones And Other Concerns, Claire M. Amodio

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

A few years ago, ancestry websites took the world by storm. People were fascinated with their history and heritage and wanted to find out more about where they came from. Then along came 23andMe, which allowed people to not only unearth their familial roots, but also bring to light unknown medical conditions or predispositions to certain medical issues. 23andMe then took the unprecedented step of teaming up with a pharmaceutical company to create drugs with its users’ genetic information. After this announcement, some users were caught off guard, having had no idea that their genetic information—something so sensitive and uniquely …

Terms Of Service: The Use And Protection Of Genomic Information By Companies, Databases, And Law Enforcement, Sophia Kallas

Honors Theses

Private genomic companies have become a popular trend in the last two decades by providing customers with information regarding their ancestry and health risks. However, the profiles received from these companies can also be uploaded to public databases for various purposes, including locating other family members. Both testing companies and public databases have private interests, and both are at risk of law enforcement intervention for the purpose of forensic familial searching. There is little federal legislation protecting the privacy of an individual’s genetic profile. Consequently, it has been up to federal agencies, state laws, and judicial precedents to prevent the …

Closed Adoption: An Illusory Promise To Birth Parents And The Changing Landscape Of Sealed Adoption Records, Bryn Baffer

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

Imagine spitting into a tube and mailing your DNA off only to discover that you had a sibling who had been adopted by another family or that a parent’s affair had resulted in a half-sibling. For many individuals, these family secrets have been exposed due to direct-to-consumer DNA testing companies, such as 23andMe.

By the 1950s, most states had enacted statutes that sealed adoption record files in order to preserve the privacy of the birth parents, adoptees, and adoptive families. While some states have moved toward granting adoptees access to their adoption records, most states still have some type of …

Third-Party Services As Potential Sources For Law Enforcement Procurement Of Genomic Data, Katherine Kwong

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

This paper examines two cases studies: Ancestry.com’s experience with law enforcement use of its genetic databases, and 23andMe’s responses to requests for users’ genomic data. Analyzing the responses to law enforcement requests by the two of the largest providers of third-party genomic services provides insight into the struggles third-party genomic services are likely to face and possible future directions for companies facing this type of law enforcement request.