23andMe settlement shows what privacy is really worth | Information Age
23andMe settlement shows what privacy is really worth | Information Age
https://ia.acs.org.au/article/2026/23andme-settlement-shows-what-privacy-is-really-worth.html
Publish Date: 2026-06-21 19:02:00
Source Domain: ia.acs.org.au
A 2023 data breach compromised the DNA data of millions of 23andMe customers. Image: Shutterstock
For all the talk about the value of personal data and the importance of protecting it, a newly announced US settlement for the mass data breach of genetic testing firm 23andMe shows just how much your privacy is actually worth: about the price of a cup of coffee.
The 7 million customers of the genetic testing company – which was once worth $8.5 billion ($US6 billion) but tanked after its clients’ personal DNA data was posted online in a major 2023 data breach – will share a settlement fund worth $46.2 million ($US32.5 million).
That’s an average of $6.60 ($US4.64) per user.
It’s a far cry from the figure floated by claims administrator Kroll after a preliminary settlement in January, when litigants were pursuing damages of $68.2 billion ($US48 billion) and Kroll promised “up to $14,200 [$US10,000]” each.
The final amount, just 0.07 per cent of that original claim, shows how much protracted legal haggling diluted the settlement – with a US Bankruptcy Court ruling calling the figure “within the range of reasonableness” given 23andMe was in “desperate financial condition.”
While conceding the amount is “modest relative to the scale of the data breach,” the court ruled that “given the magnitude of the [$US48 billion] recovery contemplated, prompt resolution… is essential… to bring the claims reconciliation process to an orderly conclusion.”
Litigating the original figure, the court noted, “would expose the estates to protected, high-stakes litigation lasting months, if not years, requiring extensive discovery and the expenditure of millions of dollars… far better preserved for the benefit of stakeholders.”
That “benefit”, as it turns out, is an average payout that’s about enough to buy a latte at your favourite café – and a slap in the face for privacy regulators threatening to excoriate tech firms…
