Privacy class action over genetic data moves forward

Filed 1h ago · Via Courthouse News · The Buffoon Desk

THIS STORY IS SCORED

Deadly Roulette

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Rijksmuseum · CC0 · via Wikimedia Commons

A federal judge let a class action proceed against Verogen and its new owner Qiagen over claims that GEDmatch's PRO platform let law enforcement bypass users' opt-out settings to run DNA comparisons against profiles users had specifically restricted. Judge James Simmons Jr. called that a substantial privacy invasion at minimum.

Plaintiffs can also pursue claims that a Meta tracking pixel installed on GEDmatch.com in 2020 captured page views and DNA kit uploads and sent user data, including Facebook IDs, to Meta, though only for users who uploaded after the pixel went live.

Simmons dismissed claims tied to the 2023 Qiagen acquisition itself, finding the complaint didn't connect the sale to any specific misuse of the ten named plaintiffs' genetic data, though he gave them a chance to amend. Verogen's attorney had argued the database's management never changed and that terms of service disclosed the possibility of a sale.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

Ten people uploaded their DNA expecting a privacy toggle to mean what it says, and a judge found enough smoke there to let the case keep burning. The company's answer, that nothing really changed hands even though it changed hands, is the kind of argument that sounds fine in a conference room and strange out loud in a courtroom. Genetic data is not like a lost umbrella, you cannot get a new one, so a 'loophole' here is doing a lot more damage than the word lets on.

Source: Read the original at Courthouse News → Scored: Deadly Roulette · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

Read it scored.

Every story, every clown, every kazoo — in your pocket. Music plays automatically. Regret is optional.

GET IT ON iOS GET IT ON ANDROID

OR FOLLOW THE DESK ON BLUESKY →