In the interest of clarity and transparency, 23andMe has made some improvements to its Privacy pages. We’re really excited to share the details of the changes in the Privacy Statement in particular.
We’ve simplified the language within our Privacy Statement, Terms of Service, and other legal documents with the goal of making them easier to understand and more accessible.
These improvements don’t change the substance of our Privacy Statement (or Terms of Service); instead, they simplify how we communicate the ways in which your data is stored, used, and protected at 23andMe, or how you can use the Services. We encourage you to take a look, but below is a short overview of some highlights.
What You’ll Find
The new Privacy Statement landing page offers a hub from which it is easy to quickly find and navigate to specific areas of privacy, whether you want to learn how 23andMe handles cookies or biobanking, or how we comply with California consumer privacy laws.
The Privacy pages also highlight some of the privacy-related choices a customer can make and what each of those choices means. For example, we explain what choices you have regarding the storage of your biological sample, participation in features like DNA Relatives, or participation in 23andMe’s groundbreaking Research program.
Those decisions are all up to the customer (you!). That’s because transparency and choice are the cornerstones of our privacy commitment to you.
Going Long or Going Deep
Some of us want to spend a long time and read through everything, while others just want the highlights. These new pages honor both of those choices.
Each section has a short and clear overview and, where relevant, links to full policies or documents that contain more detail. We’ve also broken up the topics in the left-hand navigation bar into subjects we believe customers care most about, such as the types of data we collect, who we share it with, or what it means to consent to Research.
And each page is designed to make it visually easier to find things, including noting where to go to change your privacy settings or delete your account entirely if that’s what you want to do.
Defining Certain Words
Simplifying language is important and we did a lot of that in creating these new pages, but some privacy-related terms are still not words we use every day.
That’s why we’ve added explanations about different terms with visuals.
So, when we mention “Personal Information,” we explain what it means in the context of privacy. Personal Information refers to data that personally identifies you. And we explain the difference between “individual-level data” versus “de-identified data” in writing and visuals. We also explain what “aggregate information” means in the same way.
Part of Our DNA
At 23andMe, privacy is in our DNA. It’s part of everything we do. These updates are meant to make it easier to understand and learn about how we protect and secure our customers’ data every day.
Find out more here.