Ancestry.com Denies Using Customer DNA for Commercial Puposes, Will Amend Agreement
Recently, I brought up the concerns that Ancestry.com was possibly keeping customer DNA information for commercial purposes. They have since retracted that stance to the BBC and have plans to amend the agreement accordingly.
The portion of their agreement that comes into question is below.
It is that “perpetual use” clause, and the other options detailed around it that is getting users concerned. Did you know that unless you ask Ancestry.com to destroy your profile that they will keep it available forever? Couple that with the previous “perpetual” clause and you can see why there is concern about their practice.
In a statement to You and Yours, an Ancestry spokesperson said the company "never takes ownership of a customer's data" and would "remove the perpetuity clause".
Then we have this comment - Ancestry told the BBC: "We do not share user data for research unless the user has voluntarily opted-in to that sharing."
Souce - http://www.bbc.com/news/business-40045942
Are you a user of Ancestry.com? What do you think of this development?
Has anyone checked the google terms of use recently....ancestry seems like a cut and past of google....evil
The same could be said of a lot of tech companies. It is just Ancestry's use of it has struck a chord with users over the whole "personal" aspect of it. People think with tech like Google's services, they can simply dump the device and their end of the agreement is over. It is not, unfortunately.
How could they honestly deny "using DNA for commercial purposes" though? After all, that's what their business is all about.
I don't use their service and probably won't in the future. I agree, it is kind of tongue in cheek for them to state they are not using the information for commercial purposes as they are not doing it for free or giving the information to other companies/scientists for free.
ANCESTRYDNA Is a bit of a ripoff when you read reviews plus the controversy of fake ancestry.
It is certainly a money making racket. I agree there.