The request for the information was apparently dropped.Д«ut policies could change with new ownership, NYU Law's Murphy said. Under new ownershipД®rin Murphy, a professor and privacy expert at New York University School of Law, described Ancestry's record of protecting its user data from law enforcement as 'good.' She said that in the past the company has not shared customers' data and has fought to keep it private.Д®arlier this year, CNET reported that Ancestry had received - but denied - a request by law enforcement officials last year for access to its genetic database. At the time, GEDmatch told tech website Tech CrunchВ that customers' data had only been available to law enforcement for a couple of hours, and that the company had quickly informed users and put new controls in place. The company had promised users the ability to opt out of sharing their data with law enforcement. More recently, various hacks and data breaches have raised security issues related to having genetic data stored - and searchable - in massive databases.Дigital genetics firm GEDmatch, which allows users to search its database for matches, revealed in July that a hack had given law enforcement officials access to its entire database. Last year it was revealed that Google, in what the tech giant called 'Project Nightingale,' had partnered with Ascension, one of the nation's largest health systems, to collect data on millions of Americans in an early effort to design an artificial intelligence-powered health care service. The spokesperson said that Ancestry customers 'always maintain ownership and control over their own data' and that Ancestry doesn't share that data or sell it to others.' The company said it doesn't have any plans to change that policy under new ownership. That includes Ancestry's terms and conditions and privacy statement and our commitments to protect our customers' personal data.' The spokesperson said Blackstone will 'not have access to user DNA and family tree data' or be able to share that data with its other companies in its investment portfolio.ДЄ spokesperson for Ancestry added: 'Protecting our customers' privacy and being good stewards of their data is Ancestry's highest priority and the relationship between Ancestry and its users remains the same under our new ownership. Who controls your DNA data?Д«lackstone emphasized through a spokesperson: 'We are deeply committed to ensuring that Ancestry has world-class consumer privacy and cyber security protections, and we intend to support the company's continued, significant investments in those areas.' 'The big concern when there is a big deal like this is that investors might be interested in that data for other reasons, and not in the ways that consumers intended when they gave over that information,' said Butler. rules around how personal health data can be used are outdated, mostly relating to traditional health providers like hospitals but not a commercial service like Ancestry. Alan Butler, interim executive director and general counsel of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said U.S. And that's what has some privacy experts nervous about the deal.

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