Buzz
When it comes to discovering insights about your DNA, Promethease was once considered a secure option. It guaranteed privacy and promised to erase your data after 45 days. But now that MyHeritage has acquired the company, users are receiving notifications that their genetic information is now stored on MyHeritage. What’s going on?
It turns out that even though Promethease deleted reports after 45 days as promised, if you created an account, they kept your raw data. You now have a MyHeritage account, which you can delete if you choose. I found out about mine through an email. Check your inbox.
What Promethease offers
Some time ago, I took my raw DNA data from 23andme and uploaded it to Promethease to explore what intriguing details might be hidden in my genes. Since 23andme stopped offering in-depth health-related insights in 2013, Promethease became a useful alternative. Although their price has risen from $5 to $12, it's still a bargain. They don't explain the results to you; instead, they provide a list of SNPs, which are the variations in your DNA, and you can dive into SNPedia, a kind of genetics encyclopedia, to learn what each SNP could signify.
This means that Promethease had access to the raw file you uploaded (which could come from 23andme, Ancestry, or another similar service), along with the SNP report they generated for you. You had the choice to pay for the report, download it, and never interact with the service again—or you could create an account, allowing you to regenerate your report in the future for free. In either case, they stored your raw DNA file. Here's what their privacy policy says about it:
If you opt not to create an account, Promethease deletes your DNA Data File within 24 hours. Files uploaded before August 28, 2017, were also removed. However, if you create an account, Promethease will retain your DNA Data File until you choose to delete it. You can log into your account at any time and, as long as your DNA Data File remains stored, you can regenerate a new report for free using the latest data from SNPedia or delete your DNA Data File permanently.
I’d bet many Promethease users, including myself, saw the service as a one-time use that we could just forget about. If that was your plan but you went ahead and created an account, you'll need to visit Promethease or MyHeritage and delete your data yourself.
How to delete your account
In the typical 2020 digital chaos, you must create a MyHeritage account before you can delete it. According to Promethease’s privacy policy, this is how the process is explained:
Once an account for you is set up on MyHeritage as described above [user data from Europe is not transferred], you'll get a notification email. After that, you can manage your DNA Data File(s) securely within your private MyHeritage account (created with the same email linked to your Promethease account), accessible only by you. Additionally, you'll get free services like DNA matching with relatives and ethnicity estimates. You will maintain ownership of your DNA Data File at all times (MyHeritage claims no ownership over it). Your Promethease account will stay active, allowing you to continue using it. You’ll also have the option to delete your DNA Data File or account from MyHeritage at any time while keeping your Promethease account if you wish. MyHeritage will prevent duplicating DNA Data Files, meaning if you’ve already uploaded them to MyHeritage, they won’t be uploaded again.
I received an email from MyHeritage and clicked on the provided link. This is what I saw upon arrival:
Promethease was once anonymous, but now it asks for your name (I entered 'no' on both lines) and your consent to new terms and the privacy policy. Ugh. After that, you're shown an ethnicity estimate animation. If you don’t want to watch it, you can click 'Skip' in the upper right. While these estimates may not be fully accurate, they can trigger complicated emotions if the results aren't what you expected. People have uncovered disturbing family secrets just from DNA ethnicity results, so proceed with caution.
Next, click the MyHeritage logo to reach the dashboard (it tells me that my DNA partially matches 6,033 other users, great, not exactly what I was looking for). Then, go to your profile in the top right to find the privacy settings. Among the things I didn’t ask for: DNA matches are activated, and those who match me are allowed to view my ethnicity estimate.
I disabled every setting I could find, but I still couldn’t figure out if my data had been available to others for matching and searching before I created the account, or if it only became available when I registered. I called customer support, but was told that phone support is only for paid customers. I submitted an inquiry through their website and will update if I hear back. In the meantime, at least I managed to delete my account as promised.
Here’s how to delete what you can:
Go to 'My Profile' on MyHeritage, where you’ll find your DNA 'kit' (the raw data file). Click 'manage' and you'll have the option to delete the kit.
Head to 'Account Settings', and at the bottom of the page, you’ll see an option to delete your account.
If you want to delete your Promethease account as well, log in to Promethease, click the three-dot menu next to your kit, and select 'Delete DNA Files.'
For what it’s worth, MyHeritage does not allow searches by law enforcement or attempts to solve crimes, unless compelled by a court order. They do not provide a transparency report regarding such court orders.
