Re Ancestry.com takes DNA ownership rights from customers and their relatives

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Mark Blacknell <mb () blacknell net>
> Date: May 24, 2017 at 9:28:00 AM PDT
> To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
> Cc: ip <ip () listbox com>
> Subject: Re: [IP] Ancestry.com takes DNA ownership rights from customers and their relatives
>
> The interesting thing here is that it's hard to tell whether this is lazy lawyering or aggressive lawyering.  It's 
> much easier to craft a clause that says "We'll take it all" than one that says "We'll take exactly what we need, no 
> more and no less."  But then, if the business model finds the profits in sharing this information, it's very much 
> about taking it all, relying on the fact that customers don't really understand what they're agreeing to.
>
> This is an issue across industries, of course, but this is one of those cases where I wish that law school first year 
> contracts class discussion of invalidating contracts "as against public policy" were still operative - 
> http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/students/groups/oslj/files/2012/03/70.5.Sullivan.pdf  As best I can tell, that's about as 
> relevant to today's law as all of the cornerstone antitrust cases I studied in the 90s.  
>
> mb () blacknell net
> +1.202.270.5909
> Washington, DC
>
> > On Wed, May 24, 2017 at 11:50 AM, Dave Farber <dave () farber net> wrote:
> >
> > ---------- Forwarded message ---------
> > From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
> > Date: Wed, May 24, 2017 at 8:47 AM
> > Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Ancestry.com takes DNA ownership rights from customers and their relatives
> > To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
> >
> >
> > Ancestry.com takes DNA ownership rights from customers and their relatives
> > A word to the wise: Read the complete terms of service.
> > By Joel Winston
> > May 17 2017
> > <https://thinkprogress.org/ancestry-com-takes-dna-ownership-rights-from-customers-and-their-relatives-dbafeed02b9e>
> >
> > Don’t use the AncestryDNA testing service without actually reading the Ancestry.com Terms of Service and Privacy 
> > Policy. According to these legal contracts, you still own your DNA, but so does Ancestry.com.
> >
> > The family history website Ancestry.com is selling a new DNA testing service called AncestryDNA. But the DNA and 
> > genetic data that Ancestry.com collects may be used against “you or a genetic relative.” According to its privacy 
> > policies, Ancestry.com takes ownership of your DNA forever. Your ownership of your DNA, on the other hand, is 
> > limited in years.
> >
> > It seems obvious that customers agree to this arrangement, since all of them must “click here to agree” to these 
> > terms. But, how many people really read those contacts before clicking to agree? And how many relatives of 
> > Ancestry.com customers are also reading?
> >
> > There are three significant provisions in the AncestryDNA Privacy Policy and Terms of Service to consider on behalf 
> > of yourself and your genetic relatives: (1) the perpetual, royalty-free, world-wide license to use your DNA; (2) the 
> > warning that DNA information may be used against “you or a genetic relative”; (3) your waiver of legal rights.
> >
> > 1. Perpetual, royalty-free, worldwide license to use your DNA
> >
> > AncestryDNA, a service of Ancestry.com, owns the “World’s Largest Consumer DNA Database” that contains the DNA of 
> > more than 3 million people. The AncestryDNA service promises to, “uncover your ethnic mix, discover distant 
> > relatives, and find new details about your unique family history with a simple DNA test.”
> >
> > For the price of $99 dollars and a small saliva sample, AncestryDNA customers get an analysis of their genetic 
> > ethnicity and a list of potential relatives identified by genetic matching. Ancestry.com, on the other hand, gets 
> > free ownership of your genetic information forever. Technically, Ancestry.com will own your DNA even after you’re 
> > dead.
> >
> > Specifically, by submitting DNA to AncestryDNA, you agree to “grant AncestryDNA and the Ancestry Group Companies a 
> > perpetual, royalty-free, world-wide, transferable license to use your DNA, and any DNA you submit for any person 
> > from whom you obtained legal authorization as described in this Agreement, and to use, host, sublicense and 
> > distribute the resulting analysis to the extent and in the form or context we deem appropriate on or through any 
> > media or medium and with any technology or devices now known or hereafter developed or discovered.”
> >
> > Basically, Ancestry.com gets to use or distribute your DNA for any research or commercial purpose it decides and 
> > doesn’t have to pay you, or your heirs, a dime. Furthermore, Ancestry.com takes this royalty-free license in 
> > perpetuity (for all time) and can distribute the results of your DNA tests anywhere in the world and with any 
> > technology that exists, or will ever be invented. With this single contractual provision, customers are granting 
> > Ancestry.com the broadest possible rights to own and exploit their genetic information.
> >
> > [snip]
> >
> > Dewayne-Net RSS Feed: <http://dewaynenet.wordpress.com/feed/>
> >
> >
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