You can manage, delete or destroy your Biological Samples and DNA Data as this statement describes
When you use the Services, you keep control of your Biological Samples and DNA Data and can manage, delete or destroy them in the ways the Privacy Statement describes. The methods and their limits (for example, research already under way and backup latency) are set out in the deletion section.
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You maintain control of your Biological Samples and DNA Data and you can manage, delete, or destroy them as described in this Privacy Statement.
When You Use Our Services
Qualifications & exceptions
Control is exercised "as described in this Privacy Statement"; the deletion section sets the methods and exceptions.
Retention & Deletion · Restriction or exception
Your physical sample and extracted DNA are not "Personal Information" under this statement
Neither the sample you provide with an AncestryDNA kit nor the DNA extracted from it (together "Biological Samples") counts as Personal Information under this statement. As a result, statements in the policy about Personal Information do not automatically cover your physical sample; the statement gives separate rules for storing and destroying Biological Samples.
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Neither the sample you provide using an AncestryDNA test kit nor the DNA extracted from your sample (together referred to as “Biological Samples”) are Personal Information under this Privacy Statement.
Qualifications & exceptions
The DNA Data generated from the sample is Personal Information (Genetic Information); only the physical sample and extracted DNA are excluded.
Sample storage in the biobank is optional; without your consent Ancestry destroys the sample
You can consent to have your Biological Samples stored in Ancestry's biobank for future testing. Future testing and research on them may be done if you agree to the Informed Consent to Research or consent to other tests. If you do not consent to storage, Ancestry will destroy your Biological Samples.
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You can consent to have your Biological Samples stored in our biobank for future testing at your option.
Future testing and research may be done if you agree to our
or if you consent to other tests of your Biological Samples. If you do not consent to the storage of your Biological Samples, we will destroy them.
Qualifications & exceptions
Storage is at your option.
Future testing or research requires agreeing to the Informed Consent to Research or consenting to other tests.
Not stated here
The Informed Consent to Research is a separate document and is not supplied.
Retention & Deletion · User right or choice
You can ask Ancestry to destroy your samples; it may also destroy samples that fail quality checks
You may ask Ancestry to destroy your Biological Samples by contacting Member Services or by deleting your Ancestry account; the statement points to its rights and deletion sections (numbered Sections 8 and 10) for these controls. Ancestry may also destroy samples that do not meet its quality assurance requirements at its discretion. Note that the deletion section says that to request destruction you must contact Member Services, and it does not repeat account deletion as a route.
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Sections 8 and 10 describe how you can control your Biological Samples. You may request that Ancestry destroy your Biological Samples by contacting Member Services or by deleting your Ancestry account.
We may destroy Biological Samples that do not meet our quality assurance requirements at our discretion.
Qualifications & exceptions
Ancestry can destroy samples that fail quality assurance at its discretion.
The deletion section states that destruction requests must go through Member Services.
Not stated here
Whether deleting your account alone triggers sample destruction is stated here but not repeated in the deletion section.
Cross-references
contrast (model-proposed): To have your Biological Samples destroyed, the deletion section says you must contact Member Services — contrast: The collection section lets you request sample destruction by contacting Member Services or deleting your account; the deletion section says you must contact Member Services. Reviewed tension: both name Member Services; only the earlier passage names account deletion.
Retention & Deletion · User right or choice
You can ask Ancestry to restrict or delete your data where valid grounds exist, subject to law
You have the right, in certain cases, to ask Ancestry to restrict (stop active processing of) or delete your Personal Information, provided there are valid grounds and subject to applicable law; the deletion section (numbered Section 10) explains how. You can also request restriction where, for example, you believe processing relies on inaccurate data or is unlawful. Ancestry still keeps certain information as reasonably necessary for legal obligations, disputes, security, fraud prevention and tax, payment, securities and clinical compliance, and backup deletion may lag.
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You have the right, in certain cases, to request that we restrict (stop any active processing) or delete your Personal Information, provided there are valid grounds for doing so and subject to applicable law. See Section 10 for information on how to delete your Personal Information.
You have the right to request a restriction on our processing of your Personal Information, for example, where you believe that the processing is based on inaccurate data or not processed in a lawful manner.
Ancestry also retains certain information as reasonably necessary to comply with our legal obligations (including law enforcement requests), resolve disputes, maintain security, prevent fraud and abuse, as well as to comply with tax, payment industry, securities, and clinical regulatory compliance requirements.
Qualifications & exceptions
Only in certain cases, with valid grounds, and subject to applicable law.
Ancestry retains some information for legal, security, fraud and regulatory reasons even after deletion.
Retention & Deletion · Company practice
Ancestry keeps your account and data indefinitely until you delete it or close your account
Ancestry says its Services are built around lifelong self-discovery and that its records and DNA features keep adding value over time. Its retention practice is therefore to keep user accounts until users tell it they want to delete their data or close their accounts. There is no fixed retention period; data stays unless you act.
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our retention practices reflect this ongoing value by retaining user accounts on our system until our users inform us of their desire to delete their data or close their accounts.
Qualifications & exceptions
Some information is kept after deletion for legal, security and regulatory reasons, and backups may lag.
Not stated here
Whether inactive accounts are ever deleted without a request is not stated.
Retention & Deletion · Company practice
Account, profile and family tree data are kept until you delete the tree or the account
Personal Information from creating your account and profile is kept until you delete your account. Family tree data is kept to give you continuous access and new features until you delete the tree or your account.
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Ancestry will retain the Personal Information you provide while creating your account and your profile until such time as you delete your account.
Your family tree data is kept until you delete your family tree or your account.
Retention & Deletion · Company practice
DNA Data is kept until you delete your DNA test results or your account
Ancestry keeps your DNA Data to provide the features you bought or were gifted, including updated features, more granular ethnicity estimates and new DNA-based features. Your DNA Data is kept until you delete your DNA test results or your account.
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Ancestry retains your DNA Data to provide you with the features and functionality you purchase (or are gifted)
Your DNA Data is kept until you delete your DNA test results or your account.
DNA
Qualifications & exceptions
Deleted Genetic Information leaves production, development, analytics and research systems within 30 days, but backups may lag and completed research is not undone.
Retention & Deletion · Restriction or exception
Former AncestryHealth customers: lab partners must keep DNA Data and results at least seven years
If you were an AncestryHealth customer, AncestryHealth's laboratory partners are required to keep your DNA Data and test result for at least seven years, or as required by state law, the Clinical Laboratory Improvements Act (CLIA) and guidelines for College of American Pathologists (CAP) certified labs. Deleting data at Ancestry does not shorten this lab retention. The statement names these laws and guidelines without describing them; this analysis does not interpret them.
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If you were a customer of AncestryHealth, our AncestryHealth laboratory partners are required to retain your DNA Data and test result for a period of at least seven years, or as required by state law and the Clinical Laboratory Improvements Act (CLIA) and the guidelines that apply to laboratories certified by the College of American Pathologists (CAP).
Qualifications & exceptions
Applies only to former AncestryHealth customers.
Not stated here
The content of the named laws and guidelines is not supplied or interpreted.
Retention & Deletion · Company practice
Related Brands with separate logins keep your account data until you ask for deletion
Some Related Brands have their own account logins and keep the Personal Information you gave when creating your account and profile, as needed for continuous service, until you ask Ancestry to delete it.
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Some of our Related Brands have their own account logins and will retain the Personal Information you provide while creating your account and your profile as needed to provide you with continuous and updated Services until such time as you ask us to delete it.
Qualifications & exceptions
Applies to Related Brands with their own logins.
Retention & Deletion · Restriction or exception
Usage information is kept in depersonalized or aggregated form and cannot be deleted on request
Ancestry keeps usage information, such as site visits, in depersonalized or aggregated form. Once aggregated, Ancestry treats it as no longer Personal Information, so it is not subject to user deletion requests.
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We retain usage information (e.g., visits to sites) in a depersonalized or aggregated form. Once aggregated, this information ceases to be Personal Information and will not be subject to user deletion requests.
Not stated here
How usage information is handled before it is aggregated is not specified.
Retention & Deletion · User right or choice
You can delete, or ask Ancestry to delete, your personal information at any time
You can delete your Personal Information from Ancestry, or request that Ancestry delete it, at any time, following Ancestry's instructions. The deletion section then lists limits: copies other users kept, archival records, record indexes, lab and legal retention, backups and completed research.
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You can delete, or request that we delete, your Personal Information from Ancestry at any time.
You can delete your Personal Information from Ancestry by following these instructions.
Personal Information
Qualifications & exceptions
Limits listed in the same section apply.
Retention & Deletion · Restriction or exception
Copies other users kept of your shared trees or DNA results cannot be removed by Ancestry
If you shared information with other users, for example through public family trees or by sharing DNA results directly, Ancestry cannot remove copies other users may have kept. Only you can ask those users to delete them.
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If you have shared information with other users (for example, by making your family trees public or by sharing your DNA results directly with other users), Ancestry will not be able to remove any copies of information that other users may have retained, which can only be removed by your contacting the other user and asking them to delete it.
Retention & Deletion · Restriction or exception
Removal from archival records goes to the archive; removal from record indexes is case-by-case
Requests to remove information from linked archival records must go to the responsible archival entity. Ancestry will consider requests to remove Personal Information from the searchable indexes of records it holds case by case, in accordance with law; removal is not guaranteed.
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Please direct any request to remove information from linked archival records to the responsible archival entity.
We will consider requests for removal of Personal Information from the searchable indexes of the records we hold on a case-by-case basis in accordance with law.
Qualifications & exceptions
Index removal is discretionary and case-by-case.
Retention & Deletion · Context
Non-users' information is handled under a separate linked page
In the deletion section, Ancestry again points people who are not Ancestry users to a separate page about their Personal Information. That page is not supplied.
Supporting quotations
For information on Personal Information processed by Ancestry relating to non-Ancestry users please click
Not stated here
The non-user page is not supplied.
Retention & Deletion · Company commitment
Deleting DNA Data removes Genetic Information from main systems within 30 days, but not from completed research
If you ask Ancestry to delete your DNA Data, it will delete all Genetic Information from its production, development, analytics and research systems within 30 days. If you agreed to the Informed Consent to Research, your de-identified Genetic Information cannot be removed from active or completed research projects, though it will not be used in new ones. Backups may lag behind, and lab partners may keep data where laws require.
Supporting quotations
If you request that Ancestry delete your DNA Data, we will delete all Genetic Information from our production, development, analytics, and research systems within 30 days.
we will not be able to remove your de-identified Genetic Information from active or completed research projects, but we will not use it for any new research projects.
Genetic
Qualifications & exceptions
Backup systems may lag behind.
Data already in active or completed research is not removed.
Retention & Deletion · Procedure
To have your Biological Samples destroyed, the deletion section says you must contact Member Services
The deletion section says that to request destruction of your Biological Samples you must contact Member Services. The earlier collection section also lists deleting your Ancestry account as a way to request destruction. Read together, contacting Member Services is the route both passages name; whether account deletion alone triggers destruction is stated only in the earlier passage.
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To request the destruction of your Biological Samples, you must contact Member Services.
You may request that Ancestry destroy your Biological Samples by contacting Member Services or by deleting your Ancestry account.
Qualifications & exceptions
Contacting Member Services is the route named in both passages.
Not stated here
Whether deleting your account alone results in sample destruction is not confirmed in the deletion section.
Retention & Deletion · Restriction or exception
After deletion, backups lag and Ancestry and its labs keep some data for legal and compliance reasons
There may be some delay before deleted Personal Information is removed from backup systems after it leaves production, development, analytics and research systems. Ancestry's laboratory partners may keep information they received to meet laws requiring retention, such as U.S. clinical laboratory rules. Ancestry also keeps certain information as reasonably necessary to meet legal obligations (including law enforcement requests), resolve disputes, maintain security, prevent fraud and abuse, and comply with tax, payment-industry, securities and clinical regulatory requirements.
Supporting quotations
There may be some latency in deleting your Personal Information from our backup systems after it has been deleted from our production, development, analytics, and research systems.
Our laboratory partners may also retain information they receive from us to comply with laws or regulations requiring retention of certain data, such as the Clinical Laboratory Improvements Amendments regulations administered by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Ancestry also retains certain information as reasonably necessary to comply with our legal obligations (including law enforcement requests), resolve disputes, maintain security, prevent fraud and abuse, as well as to comply with tax, payment industry, securities, and clinical regulatory compliance requirements.
Qualifications & exceptions
Backup deletion timing is not specified.
Not stated here
How long backups and legally retained data are kept is not specified.
The named clinical laboratory regulations are not supplied or interpreted.
To delete data from a Related Brand, contact that brand or use its online form
To delete information held by an Ancestry Related Brand, contact Ancestry at that brand and request deletion from that service. Some services also offer an online request form in account settings, listed on a linked page that is not supplied.
Supporting quotations
To delete information from our Related Brands, you can contact us at the Related Brand and request that your Personal Information be deleted from that service.
Some Services may also have an online request form accessible from the account settings menu and viewable
Not stated here
The Related Brands contact page is not supplied.
Retention & Deletion · User right or choice
U.S. deletion requests mean deleting your whole account, irreversibly, including trees, photos and DNA Data
Depending on your state, you may have the right to request deletion of your Personal Information. Under the U.S. Statement, to delete your Personal Information you must delete your account; once the deletion is completed it is irreversible, and your information, including family trees, records, photos and DNA Data, is permanently deleted. You can do this online, through a Related Brand, or by email; an emailed request may require a government-issued ID used solely for verification. The general deletion section separately describes deleting trees or DNA results on their own, and retention exceptions still apply.
Supporting quotations
16.6.2 Right to Delete. You may have the right to request that we delete your Personal Information.
To delete your Personal Information, you must delete your account and, once an account deletion request is completed, this process is irreversible. Your information (including family trees, records, photos, and DNA Data) will be permanently deleted.
To submit your request for deletion from our Related Brands, contact us at the Related Brand.
You may be required to provide a copy of your government-issued ID, which will be used solely to verify your identity and address.
If you are an “Authorized Agent” and are submitting a request to delete on behalf of one of our users, see Section 16.6.3.
Qualifications & exceptions
Deletion under this right requires deleting the account and cannot be undone.
A government ID may be required for emailed requests.
Retention for legal, security and regulatory reasons and backup latency still apply.
Not stated here
How this account-level route relates to the separate tools for deleting only trees or DNA results is not explained.