Privacy
Your DNA is yours. We mean that literally.
The short version: your DNA chip and the details of living relatives are private to you. The archival records that prove your family’s history are public, and we always cite them. Here is everything, in plain language and in full.
The plain-language version
Private vs. cited public proof
Private to you
- Your raw DNA file and genotype data
- The identities and details of living persons
- Your account, contact info, and uploads
- Your private notes and tree edits
Public, and always cited
- Historical archive records (JewishGen, ship manifests, yizkor books)
- Yad Vashem Pages of Testimony, shown with dignity
- Published ancient-DNA samples (AADR)
- Anything we cite as a source in your narrative
We surface public records as cited proof. We protect everything that is yours. We never sell your data, never use it to train AI models, and never paywall a victim’s record.
The full policy
Privacy Policy
Last updated: May 2026
1. The data we collect
We collect the DNA file or GEDCOM tree you choose to upload, the account information you provide (email and authentication details), and the records and narrative we generate on your behalf. We do not purchase DNA data, and we do not ingest your data from other services without your explicit upload.
2. How we use your data
Your data is used solely to build your cited family-history narrative and to match you against historical and ancient-DNA records. It is not sold, rented, or shared with advertisers. It is not used to train AI models. Processing is performed under per-tenant isolation, and raw personally identifying information does not leave our perimeter for third-party processing (our PII-egress diode strips it first).
3. Private data vs. cited public records
Your DNA chip and the details of living persons are treated as private and are visible only within your account. Historical archive records are public records; when they appear in your narrative they are presented as cited proof with a link back to the source archive. Records that memorialize victims are held to our dignity commitments — never paywalled, never used in advertising, always linked to their source.
4. Storage and security
Data is stored with per-tenant isolation. Access is restricted, audited, and limited to what is necessary to operate your account. We describe our security model in more detail on our trust & security page.
5. Your rights (including GDPR)
You may access, export, correct, or delete your data at any time. For users in the EU/UK, this includes your rights under the GDPR and equivalent laws: the right of access, the right to rectification, the right to erasure (“right to be forgotten”), the right to data portability, and the right to restrict or object to processing.
6. Deletion
When you delete your account or your uploaded data, deletion is real: your raw DNA file and private data are removed from active systems, and from backups on our standard backup rotation thereafter. Public archive records cited in your narrative are not “your data” to delete — they remain public records at their source archives — but your personal narrative and uploads are removed.
7. Children
The service is intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect data directly from children. Information about deceased ancestors, including minors, may appear in historical records where it is part of the public archival record.
8. Changes to this policy
If we change this policy in a way that affects how your data is handled, we will update the date above and, for material changes, notify you. We will never change this policy to permit selling your DNA data, training models on it, or paywalling victim records.
9. Contact
Questions about your privacy or a data request? Reach us through your account or at the contact address listed there, and we will respond.