Your Privacy

Effective Date: 3 Aug 2021

Summary of Changes

This summary is intended to help you better understand the most recent changes to Ancestry’s Privacy Statement and how the changes may impact you.

The updates to the Privacy Statement apply to your use of the Services when you view, access, or otherwise use the Services. To fully understand the changes and terms that will govern your use of our Services, please read the Privacy Statement.

Specifically, the most recent changes include:

Removing reference to AncestryHealth® which has been discontinued and is unavailable as of August 1, 2021; and
Updating, clarifying, and simplifying existing language.

At Ancestry®, your privacy is a top priority. Ancestry is committed to being a good steward of your Personal Information (defined below), handling it in a responsible manner, and securing it with administrative, technical, organizational and physical safeguards.

We believe in being honest, direct and transparent when it comes to your data. Ancestry follows three guiding principles when it comes to your privacy:

Transparency. We work hard to be transparent about what Personal Information we collect and process.
Simplicity. We try to use easy-to-understand language to describe our privacy practices to help you make informed choices.
Control. We give you control over the Personal Information you provide to us, including your DNA Data, and how it is used, shared, and retained.

Other Important Things for You To Understand When You Use Our Services

You always maintain ownership of your DNA and DNA Data (defined below)—you can manage and delete it as described in this Privacy Statement.

You may discover unexpected facts about yourself or your family when using our services. Once discoveries are made, we can’t undo them.

When you make new discoveries with us, you should feel confident and informed about how we use your Personal Information. Our full Privacy Statement is below and we encourage you to read it. It covers all Ancestry websites, services, and mobile apps that link to this Privacy Statement, including: Ancestry®, AncestryDNA®, Fold3®, Newspapers.com™, Archives®, We Remember®, and Find a Grave®.

California Customers only - The California Resident Additional Privacy Statement below contains additional details for California residents required by the CCPA.

International Customers only - Ancestry Ireland Unlimited Company is the controller of your Personal Information and Section 8 below contains information on your rights.

Table of Contents

1.	Introduction
2.	Account Creation and Your Engagement with Ancestry Services
3.	What Personal Information Does Ancestry Collect from You?
4.	What Information Does Ancestry Collect Through Your Use of the Services?
5.	Information We Collect from Other Sources
6.	How Does Ancestry Use Your Personal Information?
7.	What Information Do We Share, When Do We Share It, and Who Are the Recipients?
8.	Your Rights and Choices Regarding Your Personal Information
9.	What Are Our Retention Practices?
10.	How Can I Delete My Personal Information?
11.	Security
12.	International Data Transfers
13.	Changes to This Statement
14.	Legal Basis Under EU General Data Protection Regulation for Processing Personal Information of EU Residents.
15.	Identity and Contact Details of the Data Controller
16.	AncestryHealth (US customers only)
17.	California Resident Additional Privacy Statement (California customers only)

1. Introduction

At Ancestry, we empower journeys of personal discovery to enrich lives. To provide and improve the websites, mobile applications, and services (collectively the “Services”), we collect, process, and store "Personal Information," which is information that can identify you directly or indirectly, as further described in Section 3, such as your name, email or address, or information that could reasonably be linked back to you, including your Genetic Information. This Privacy Statement describes our practices for collecting, storing and processing your Personal Information and the controls we provide you to manage it within our Services. In addition, our Cookie Policy describes our use of browser cookies and similar tracking technologies.

Please note: Information about deceased persons is not Personal Information under this Privacy Statement.

2. Account Creation and Your Engagement with Ancestry Services

The Personal Information contractually required to create an account with Ancestry is limited to your name, an email address, and a password. For Archives® users only, billing information is also required for account creation.

By creating an account you are telling us that you understand Ancestry will collect, process, and share your Personal Information (including your Genetic Information if you have taken a DNA test) as described in this Privacy Statement.

Access to Ancestry content such as archival records to help you build a family tree or to our DNA features (ethnicity estimate, etc.) requires additional Personal Information, including payment details, and, for the DNA test, the test code, your assigned sex at birth, birth year, and a saliva sample from which we can extract Genetic Information.

At any time, you can request that Ancestry delete Personal Information you have uploaded into your account, such as a family tree or your Genetic Information. You can also delete your entire account. Please see Section 10 for specific details about deleting your Personal Information.

3. What Personal Information Does Ancestry Collect From You?

Information Category	Description
Account Information	Your name (required). An email address (required). A password that you create (required). A phone number - You may voluntarily provide a phone number so we can (i) notify you of DNA test result status, (ii) notify you of other updates you agree to, (iii) assist you when you contact Ancestry Member Services, or (iv) allow you to enable multi-factor authentication. Billing information. Certain Ancestry brands may support third-party sign-in services such as Facebook, Google and Apple that provide Ancestry your Personal Information. Please refer to our Cookie Policy to learn about how third parties use technology for analytics and targeting purposes and about the controls we provide you.
Credit Card/Payment Information	Payment information, such as your credit card number, and your billing and shipping address(es), when you make a purchase, such as an Ancestry subscription or a DNA test kit.
DNA Kit Activation Information	When you activate a DNA test kit, we collect: Your DNA test kit code; Your assigned sex at birth; and, Your year of birth.
Profile Information	We collect the information that you provide when you create a user profile (for example, a profile image, your name, age, or location) and about you from your family tree. Your Ancestry user profile information is visible to other Users (defined in the Ancestry Terms and Conditions), so please consider limiting this information and using a username that is different from your real name to protect your privacy.
User Provided Content	We collect information when you voluntarily contribute to the Services, for example, content you upload or contributions to community discussions, family trees, photos, videos, recordings, annotations to Ancestry records, and information you voluntarily provide in response to our email surveys or questionnaires available through the Services. This may include health or medical information.
Genetic Information	At our partner laboratories, we extract your DNA from your saliva and convert it into machine-readable biometric data (“DNA Data”) that we process to provide you with an ethnicity estimate and communities suggestions. We also process your DNA Data to provide you information about your degree of relatedness to other users in our DNA database and any genetic associated with certain biological, physiological, or behavioral traits, such as hair thickness and eye color or traits associated with wellness. Your DNA Data and any information derived from it such as ethnicity estimates, communities, traits, and genetic relative matches are Personal Information and referred to as “Genetic Information”. A Note About Your DNA and Saliva: Neither your saliva nor the extracted DNA (together referred to as “Biological Samples”) are Personal Information under this Privacy Statement. Also, after our laboratory partner has processed your Biological Sample, you can consent to its storage in our bio bank for future testing at your option. Future testing may be done if you agree to our Informed Consent for Research or if you consent to other tests of your Biological Samples. Sections 8 and 10 below describe how you can control your Biological Samples. You may request that Ancestry destroy your Biological Samples by contacting Member Services. Note that we may destroy Biological Samples that do not meet our quality assurance requirements at our discretion.
Note About Health-Related Information	Ancestry is not a covered entity under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”), and as a result no User Provided Content provided by you is subject to or protected by HIPAA.
Your Communications	We host and maintain your communications with other Users through the communications features on our platform, and also collect your information when you communicate with Ancestry Member Services and support teams for our other Services, including audio and visual information (such as recordings of calls with Ancestry Member Services or information voluntarily shared when participating in consumer insights research).
Contests and Promotions	We collect Personal Information when you voluntarily participate in contests and special promotions we run or sponsor.
Find a Grave Photos and Photo Volunteers	Through Find a Grave, we collect metadata associated with digital photographs uploaded to the Find a Grave service, including location, date and time the photo was taken. If you choose to be a photo volunteer for Find a Grave, you provide your location to us which you can change or remove at any time.
Other Protected Classifications and Sensitive Data	We may collect information related to certain protected classifications such as gender or marital status.

For information on Personal Information processed by Ancestry relating to non-Ancestry users please click here

4. What Information Does Ancestry Collect Through Your Use of the Services?

Information Category	Description
Computer and Mobile Device Information	Ancestry collects information about how you access our Services, including the website you visited before and after Ancestry’s site. We also collect the IP address where your computer, mobile device, or the proxy server that you use accesses the Internet, in addition to other technical information, such as: Your computer operating system; Your web browser; Your mobile device identifier provided by your mobile device operating system and your mobile operating system; and, The name of your internet service provider or mobile carrier. Ancestry may collect geolocation information from your device with your permission.
Information from Cookies and Similar Technologies	Ancestry uses cookies and similar technologies as well as technical integrations with marketing and advertising partners as described in our Cookie Policy. Please refer to our Cookie Policy to learn about our practices and the controls we provide you.
Information Shared Through Social Media Features	If you interact with social media through the Services, for example “Share,” “Post,” “Tweet,” “Pin,” or “Follow Us” links to sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube, Ancestry will collect these interactions and whatever account information these services make available to us dependent on your privacy settings with that third party. Your interactions with these features are governed by the privacy statement of the applicable third-party company.
Information from Your Use of the Services	We collect information about your use of the Services, such as when you search or access records or public family trees, which pages you view, links you click, or when you add people to your tree, etc., which we may use to infer details about you as a customer and your interests to provide a better experience through, for example, search suggestions.

5. Information We Collect from Other Sources

Information Category	Use Description
Information from Public and Historical Records	Ancestry collects records from various sources, usually from official record sources, including newspapers, as well as birth, death, and marriage records, which may contain Personal Information relating to you. Public and historical records may also contain Personal Information relating to non-Ancestry users. These records are usually made available to Users as part of the Ancestry subscription Services.
Information from Third Parties	We may also receive information about you from third parties. For example, we may supplement the data we collect with information licensed from third parties in order to personalize the Services and our offers to you. If you purchase a gift subscription or DNA kit as a gift, we will collect Personal Information, such as the recipient’s name, shipping address, email address, and the necessary purchase information to complete the gift and notify the recipient.

Information Category

Use Description

Information from Public and Historical Records

Ancestry collects records from various sources, usually from official record sources, including newspapers, as well as birth, death, and marriage records, which may contain Personal Information relating to you. Public and historical records may also contain Personal Information relating to non-Ancestry users. These records are usually made available to Users as part of the Ancestry subscription Services.

Information from Third Parties

We may also receive information about you from third parties. For example, we may supplement the data we collect with information licensed from third parties in order to personalize the Services and our offers to you.

If you purchase a gift subscription or DNA kit as a gift, we will collect Personal Information, such as the recipient’s name, shipping address, email address, and the necessary purchase information to complete the gift and notify the recipient.

6. How Does Ancestry Use Your Personal Information?

Information Category	Use Description
Personal Information (Generally)	We use your Personal Information to provide, personalize, improve, update and expand our Services. This includes: Authenticating your access to the Services and improving Ancestry information security; Processing your payments for subscriptions, AncestryDNA® services and test kits, and other products and features; Building new and improving existing Services; Helping you create, and providing insights about, your family trees based on data in Ancestry’s databases; Issuing surveys and questionnaires for use in the Services, as well as facilitating product development and research initiatives; Conducting scientific, statistical, and historical research; Detecting and protecting against error, fraud, or other criminal or malicious activity; and, Enforcing our Terms and Conditions.
Communications	We use your Personal Information to communicate with you about the Services, such as when we: Respond to your inquiries to Member Services; Alert you to potential genetic relatives identified by DNA matching, or through our family history services (for example, “Ancestry Hints®” about potential ancestors in our database); Alert you to records pertaining to people in your family tree or to whom you may be related; Inform you of changes to Services or new Services; Ask you to participate in Ancestry media productions, advertisements, conducting consumer insights research, or testimonials; and, Provide you with information or request action in response to technical, security, and other operational issues.
Market Products and Offers from Us or Our Business Partners	We may use some Personal Information (for example, demographic information available from third-party sources or from parts of Ancestry (profile, trees, etc.)) to market our products and offers from us or our business partners. This marketing includes advertising based on your interests. Please note: Ancestry does not share your Genetic Information with third-party marketers, insurance companies, or employers, and we will not use your Genetic Information for marketing or personalized advertising without getting your explicit consent. For any consent based marketing we do, you can control how we market to you by using the unsubscribe link in any marketing email you receive, by changing your account preferences, or by following the instructions in marketing communications you receive. For more information please see our Cookie Policy. Controls for Ancestry’s related brands’ are available through their settings and are listed here. For certain personalized advertising on third-party platforms, we rely on our own legitimate interests as the legal basis (please see Section 7) and you should control your marketing preferences directly on those platforms.
Genetic Information	Ancestry uses your Genetic Information for the following primary purposes: Delivering ethnicity results, (e.g., close family, extended family or distant family) from our database, and other information to help you and other users learn more about each other, potential family members, as well as your genetic relatives and family groups; Connecting you with and helping you learn about your genetic relatives in our database through features such as DNA matching or other product features; Providing you with other insights into what your DNA reveals about traits, and wellness; Providing relevant results to assist you in discovering common ancestors and other details about your family history, as well as helping you connect with friends and family; Studying aggregated Genetic Information to better understand population and ethnicity-related health, wellness, aging, or physical conditions; Conducting scientific, statistical, and historical research; and, Improving features and functionality in our existing DNA-related products, enhancing the customer experience across Ancestry Services, improving the quality of our laboratory processes and technology, and building new products and services, including services related to personal wellness.

7. What Information Do We Share, When Do We Share It and Who Are the Recipients?

Ancestry does not share your individual Personal Information (including your Genetic Information) with third-parties except as described in this Privacy Statement or with your additional consent. We do not voluntarily share your information with law enforcement. Also, as previously explained, we will not share your Genetic Information with insurance companies, employers, or third-party marketers without your express consent.

Please note: Ancestry’s CCPA-specific disclosures can be found here. Ancestry does not sell your Personal Information.

The circumstances described below explain when sharing might occur:

Those with Whom Your Information May Be Shared / Circumstances in Which Sharing Occurs	Description
Ancestry Companies	We may share your information within the Ancestry group of companies listed here (the “Ancestry Companies”) in order to provide our Services and to improve our Services. We transfer your Personal and Genetic Information between Ancestry’s Ireland-based company and Ancestry’s U.S.-based companies. For more information on this see section 12 below.
Other Users or Others You May Choose to Share With	As part of your use of the Services, you have the option to add or share information with all Users of the Service or through sharing features with individual Users and non-Ancestry users. You may have additional sharing options in some Services, for example AncestryDNA® (see below). Information in your public profile(s) will be seen by all other Users, as will public family tree details (note that living people in your tree are only visible to you and people you share your tree with as “editor” or whom you authorize to be able to view your tree’s living people). If you choose to view and be seen by your DNA matches, your DNA matches can see certain information, such as your username, how they might be related to you, whether you have linked a family tree to your DNA, and either all or only shared (at your option) regions and communities. You may be offered other options for connecting with relatives or learning about familial connections. You can share other DNA information, such as Traits, through compare and other one-to-one sharing features. If you share details of your family history or DNA experience outside the Services, you do so at your own risk.
Service Providers	We work with other companies when providing and marketing the Services. As a result, these companies will have access to or have some of your information, including some of your Personal Information in their systems. These companies are subject to contractual obligations governing privacy, data security and confidentiality consistent with applicable laws. These companies include our: Laboratory partners (such as your DNA); DNA test shipping providers (such as name and shipping address); Payment processors (such as Payment Information); Cloud services infrastructure providers (such as Account Information); Biological sample storage facilities (such as DNA test kit code); Vendors that assist us in marketing and consumer research analytics, fraud prevention, and security (such as email address); Communications infrastructure providers (such as name, email address); and, Vendors that help us provide some Member Services functions, like phone support or survey tools (such as Account Information or name or email address)
Analytics and Advertising Partners	We work with third-party partners for analytics and advertising purposes. By collecting certain information, it helps us to better personalize ads to match your interests. It also helps us to measure the effectiveness of ad campaigns and is used to serve you with advertising that is more relevant to you.
Research Partners	We share your Genetic Information with research partners only when you provide us with your express consent to do so through our Informed Consent to Research. Unless you agree to the Informed Consent to Research, your data will not be available to third party researchers. Research partners include commercial or non-profit organizations that conduct or support scientific research, the development of therapeutics, medical devices or related material to treat, diagnose or predict health conditions. In some circumstances, a research partner or Ancestry may have a financial interest in the research arrangement. A list of our research partners can be found here.
Law Enforcement	Ancestry does not voluntarily cooperate with law enforcement. To provide our Users with the greatest protection under the law, we require all government agencies seeking access to Ancestry customers’ data to follow valid legal process and do not allow law enforcement to use Ancestry’s services to investigate crimes or to identify human remains. If we are compelled to disclose your Personal Information to law enforcement, we will do our best to provide you with advance notice, unless we are prohibited under the law from doing so. In the interest of transparency, Ancestry produces a Transparency Report where we list the number of valid law enforcement requests for user data across all our sites.
Other Legal or Regulatory Process	We may share your Personal Information if we believe it is reasonably necessary to: Comply with valid legal process (e.g., subpoenas, warrants); Enforce or apply the Ancestry Terms and Conditions; Protect the security or integrity of the Services; or Protect the rights, property, or safety, of Ancestry, our employees or Users.
If Ancestry is Acquired	If Ancestry or its businesses are acquired or transferred (including in connection with bankruptcy or similar proceedings), we will share your Personal Information with the acquiring or receiving entity. The promises in this Privacy Statement may continue to apply to your Personal Information that is transferred to the new entity.
A Note About Aggregated Data	Ancestry may disclose user information in an aggregated form as part of the Services or our marketing, or in scientific publications published by us or our research partners. For example, we might note the percentage of immigrants in a State that are from a particular geographic region or country. Such disclosure will never include Personal Information.

8. Your Rights and Choices Regarding Your Personal Information

All Users (as defined in our Terms and Conditions) may use our online tools to 1) request a report of what Personal Information they have provided to us, 2) download a copy of their DNA Data or download a copy of their family trees, and 3) delete their family trees, DNA test results or account. Some laws provide Users with specific rights regarding their Personal Information. For example:

Right of Access/To Know – You may have a right to request access to your Personal Information and to be provided with a copy of certain information including the categories of your Personal Information we collect and disclose. To request such copy, follow these step-by-step instructions. If you want a copy of your DNA Data, follow these step-by-step instructions. If you want a copy of your family trees, follow these step-by-step instructions.

Right of Rectification/Correction – You may have the right to request that we rectify or correct inaccurate Personal Information about you.

Right of Erasure/Deletion – You have the right, in certain cases, to request that we 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.

Right to data portability – You may have the right to receive certain of your Personal Information in a format that can be transmitted to another data controller.

You can exercise these rights by using the tools described below or by contacting Ancestry. Details and options for accessing this information are listed below.

Type	Choices
Ancestry	You can access and update the Personal Information (such as your email address, username, profile information, etc.) that you provide to Ancestry at any time in the following sections of the privacy settings: Public Profile; Account; Site Preferences; Email Preferences; and, DNA Settings. To learn how to manage the privacy settings for any family trees you have created on Ancestry, you can click here.
Related Brands	Ancestry strives to make it simple for you to manage your privacy across the Services. You can manage your privacy settings for our related brands here.
Mobile Apps	You can also control your information using the settings available in our mobile applications, such as Ancestry®, AncestryDNA®, Find a Grave® and We Remember® apps.
Advertising	We use cookies and similar tracking technologies and integrations with third party marketing and advertising partners to collect data about your interests or behaviors to serve you targeted ads. You may change your settings as described in our Cookie Policy. For information on please see our Cookie Policy.
Family Tree Information Download	Ancestry allows you to download your family tree information in the standard GEDCOM family tree file format in your Family Tree Settings. Learn how here.
Genetic Information Download	Your DNA Data belongs to you. You always have the option of downloading a file with your DNA Data. If you download your DNA Data, you do so at your own risk. Learn how here. For more information on what is included in your DNA Data download, go here.

9. What Are Our Retention Practices?

Ancestry Services are fundamentally premised on the notion that the personal voyage of self-discovery is not a one-time event and continues over lengthy periods of time—possibly lifetimes. Additionally, and with particular regard to our subscribers and DNA customers who pay fees or purchase subscriptions, the ongoing enhancement of our collections of historical records and DNA features provide benefits and insights to our Users over time. As a result, 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.

Information Category	Retention Period
Account and Profile	Ancestry will retain the Personal Information you provide while creating your account and your profile until such time as you delete your account.
Family Tree	Due to the multi-generational significance of family trees, Ancestry will retain your family tree data to provide you with continuous access, updated features, and the ability to enhance your family tree. Your family tree data is kept until you delete your family tree or your account.
DNA	Ancestry retains your DNA Data to provide you with the features and functionality you purchased (or were gifted), including continuously updated features such as DNA matches, increasingly granular ethnicity estimates and improved regions and communities, as well as new other features based on your DNA Data. Your DNA Data is kept until you delete your DNA test results or your account. 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).
Related Brands	Some of our related brands (Fold3®, Newspapers.com™, Find a Grave®, We Remember® or Archives®) 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.
Usage Information	We retain usage information (e.g., visits to sites) in a depersonalized or aggregated form. Once aggregated, this information ceases to be personal and will not be subject to user deletion requests.

10. How Can I Delete My Personal Information?

You can delete your Personal Information from Ancestry at any time.

Information Category	How To Delete
Personal Information	You can delete your Personal Information from Ancestry by following these instructions. 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. 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.
Genetic	Please note: If you request that Ancestry delete your DNA Data, we will delete all Genetic Information, including any derivative Genetic Information (ethnicity estimates, genetic relative matches, etc.) from our production, development, analytics, and research systems within 30 days. To request the destruction of your Biological Samples, you must contact Member Services. Please note that if you have agreed to our Informed Consent to Research, we will not be able to remove your Genetic Information from active or completed research projects, but we will not use it for any new research projects.
General	Please note that 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. Also, our laboratory partners may retain information they receive from us in order to comply with laws or regulations that may require them to do so, such as the Clinical Laboratory Improvements Amendments regulations administered by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Ancestry may also retain 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.
Related Brands	To delete information from our related brands (Fold3®, Newspapers.com™, Find a Grave®, We Remember® or Archives®), you can always 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 that service’s account settings menu and viewable here.

11. Security

Ancestry maintains a comprehensive information security program designed to protect our customers’ Personal Information using administrative, physical, and technical safeguards.

The specific security measures used are based on the sensitivity of the Personal Information collected. We have measures in place to protect against inappropriate access, loss, misuse, or alteration of Personal Information (including Genetic Information) under our control.

The Ancestry Security Team regularly reviews our security and privacy practices and enhances them as necessary to help ensure the integrity of our systems and your Personal Information.

We use secure server software to encrypt Personal Information (including Genetic Information), and we only partner with security companies that meet and commit to our security standards. While we cannot guarantee that loss, misuse or alteration of data will not occur, we use reasonable efforts to prevent this.

It is also important for you to guard against unauthorized access to your Personal Information by maintaining strong passwords and protecting against the unauthorized use of your own computer or device.

12. International Data Transfers

We are a global business and may transfer your Personal Information to countries other than your own country, including to the United States. Countries which are outside the EEA, Switzerland or the United Kingdom may not offer the same level of data protection as in your home country. When we transfer your Personal and Genetic Information between Ancestry’s Ireland-based company and Ancestry’s U.S.-based companies for processing in the United States, we rely on established transfer mechanisms such as Standard Contractual Clauses.

13. Changes to This Statement

We may modify this Privacy Statement at any time, but we will provide prominent advance notice of any material changes to this Statement, such as posting a notice through the Services, on our websites, or sending you an email, to provide you the opportunity to review the changes and choose whether to continue using the Services.

We will also notify you of non-material changes to this Statement as of their effective date by posting a notice through the Services, on our websites, or sending you an email.

If you object to any changes, you may delete your account as described in Section 10.

14. Legal Bases Under EU General Data Protection Regulation for Processing Personal Information of EU Residents.

Under EU and UK law, we are required to specify the purposes for which we process your Personal Information and the legal bases which we rely on to do this. Ancestry relies on a number of legal bases to collect and process your Personal Information and Genetic Information. You can view the details of our legal bases here.

15. Identity and Contact Details of the Data

Customers in the United States

If you reside in the United States, Ancestry.com Operations Inc. and Ancestry.com DNA, LLC, are responsible for the use of your data and for responding to any requests related to your Personal Information.

	Email	Postal Address
For Users Located in the United States	[email protected]	Ancestry.com Operations Inc. Attn: Privacy Office 153 Townsend Street, Suite 800 San Francisco, CA 94107
CCPA Support	[email protected]	N/A
CCPA Authorized Agent Support	[email protected]	N/A

Customers Outside the United States

If you reside outside the United States, Ancestry Ireland Unlimited Company is your data controller.

Users outside of the United States may contact the Irish Data Protection Commission, or your local Data Protection Authority.

	Email	Postal Address
For Users Located Outside of the United States	[email protected]	Ancestry Ireland Unlimited Company Attn: Privacy Office 52-55 Sir John Rogerson’s QuayDublin D02 NA07 Ireland

For Ancestry Customers: Ancestry customers can reach us using these phone numbers, or you may submit questions using this web form.

Law Enforcement Requests: Requests for information from law enforcement bodies should follow Ancestry’s Guide for Law Enforcement.

16. AncestryHealth (US Customers Only)

The AncestryHealth Service has been discontinued and is unavailable as of August 1, 2021. Your AncestryHealth reports and any health data you provided to the service (health history/family health history) will be deleted and unavailable for download. DNA kit activation information (as described in Section 3) and Genetic Information will be retained to continue to provide AncestryDNA services, such as origins and ethnicity, DNA matches, and Traits.

17. California Resident Additional Privacy Statement

Ancestry provides this California Resident Additional Privacy Statement (“California Statement”), applicable solely to California residents, as a supplement to our Privacy Statement, to provide information as to how you may exercise your rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”). This California Statement covers all Ancestry websites, services, and mobile apps that link to this California Statement, including: Ancestry®, AncestryDNA®, Fold3®, Newspapers.com™, Archives®, We Remember®, and Find a Grave® (throughout, collectively, as applicable “Ancestry” “we” or “our”). It applies to the Personal Information (defined above) we collect from your use of our Services and through any other means by which you engage with us.

17.1 Categories of Personal Information

Ancestry collects, and has collected in the 12 months prior to the effective date of this California Statement, the following categories of Personal Information:

Identifiers, such as name, postal address, unique personal identifier, online identifier, IP address, your mobile device identifier, email address, account name, driver’s license.
Categories of personal information described in subdivision (e) of Section 1798.80 not covered by an existing category (medical information, physical characteristics or descriptions).
Characteristics of protected classes under California or federal law, such as assigned sex at birth and year of birth, and, if you are an AncestryDNA® customer, medical conditions. This also includes any other User Provided Content (defined above) you choose to share with us that is considered a legally protected class under California or federal law.
Commercial information, such as products or services purchased, obtained, or considered or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies.
Biometric information, such as DNA Data (defined above).
Internet usage information, such as your browsing history, search history, and information regarding your interaction with our sites and advertisements (also described above).
Geolocation data, such as location of your device or computer and any metadata associated with digital photographs uploaded to Find a Grave®, including the location, date, and time the photo was taken.
Sensory data, such as audio, electronic, and visual information (e.g., audio or video recordings you upload, recordings of calls with Ancestry Member Services or information you voluntarily share when doing consumer insights research with us).
Inferences derived from Personal Information, such as to suggest familial relationships and to create consumer profiles for the purposes of research, product development and marketing. Please note as stated in Section 17.6 below, we do not sell your Personal Information.

Note that some categories of information are collected only if you use certain of our Services.

17.2 Business Purposes

Ancestry uses the categories of Personal Information described in Section 17.1 for the following business purposes:

Providing, personalizing, improving, updating, and expanding Ancestry’s Services;
Communicating to you about the Services; and
Marketing new products and offers from us or our business partners based on your interests.

17.3 Categories of Sources of Personal Information

Ancestry collects, and has collected in the 12 months prior to the effective date of this California Statement, categories of Personal Information described in Section 17.1 from the following categories of sources:

You, our user/visitor—this source of Personal Information depends on your use of the Services, including your User Provided Content (defined above);
The Ancestry Companies (defined in Section 7);
Public records;
Historical records; and,
Third parties.

17.4 Categories of Third-Parties with Whom We Share Personal Information

Ancestry shares, and has shared in the 12 months prior to the effective date of this California Statement, with the following categories of third parties the correlating categories of Personal Information:

Categories of Third-Parties with whom We Share Personal Information	The Categories of Personal Information We Share
Other Ancestry Users (if you shared your Personal Information on Ancestry	Identifiers; Categories of personal information described in Section 1798.80(e) of the California Civil Code; Characteristics of protected classes under California or federal law; and, Biometric information.
Ancestry Companies	Identifiers; Categories of personal information described in Section 1798.80(e) of the California Civil Code; Characteristics of protected classes under California or federal law; Commercial information; Biometric information (only between Ancestry and AncestryDNA); Internet usage information; Geolocation information; Sensory data; and, Inferences.
Service Providers	Identifiers and categories of personal information described in Section 1798.80(e) of the California Civil Code such as email address and unique personal identifiers generated by Ancestry (tube code); Biometric information and characteristics of protected classes under California or federal law (gender, birth date) are shared with our partner laboratories; Commercial information; Internet usage information; Sensory data; and, Inferences.
Research Partners	Refer to the Informed Consent to Research for information on what is shared with research partners, which may include: Identifiers; Categories of personal information described in Section 1798.80(e) of the California Civil Code; Characteristics of protected classes under California or federal law; Commercial information; Biometric information (only between Ancestry and AncestryDNA); Internet usage information; Sensory data; and, Inferences.
Law Enforcement or Other Regulatory Bodies	We do not voluntarily share your Personal Information with law enforcement or regulatory bodies. We require a valid legal process as described in Section 7 above before we would provide any data to law enforcement. For information on what data has been shared, see our bi-annual Transparency Report.

17.5 Exercising Your Rights Under CCPA.

17.5.1 Right to Know. The CCPA gives California consumers the right to request that we disclose what Personal Information we collect, use, disclose, or sell. This includes the right to request the categories of Personal Information we have collected about them, the categories of sources of Personal Information, the business purpose for collecting Personal Information, the categories of third parties with whom we share categories of Personal Information, and the specific pieces of Personal Information we have collected about the requestor.

If you are submitting a request to know on your own behalf, there are two ways to make your request: online or by email.

To submit your request to know for Ancestry online, follow these step-by-step instructions on how to download your account data. Please note that this report will not include a copy of your DNA Data or family trees. If you want a copy of your family trees, follow these step-by-step instructions. If you want a copy of your DNA Data, follow these step-by-step instructions. Please note that if you download your DNA Data, you do so at your own risk.

To submit your request to know for our related brands (Fold3, Newspapers.com™, Find a Grave, We Remember or Archives), you can always contact us at the related brand and, for some Services, they may also have an online request form accessible from that service’s account settings menu (contact information and link to online request form, if available, are here).

To email your request to know, email us at [email protected]. We are required to verify your identity before providing you with a copy of your data. We will require you to provide proof of identity and California address (e.g., you may be required to provide a copy of your government ID, which will be used solely to verify your identity and address).

If you are an “Authorized Agent” pursuant to the CCPA and are submitting a request to know on behalf of one of our users, see Section 17.5.3 below.

17.5.2 Right to Delete. The CCPA gives California consumers the right to request that we delete your Personal Information.

If you are submitting a request to delete on your own behalf, there are two ways to make your request: online or by email. Note that to delete your Personal Information, you must delete your account and that once an account deletion request is completed, this process is irreversible. Your information (including, but not limited to, family trees, records, photos, and DNA Data) will be permanently deleted.

To submit your request for deletion from Ancestry online, follow these step-by-step instructions on how to delete your account. To submit your request for deletion from our related brands (Fold3, Newspapers.com™, Find a Grave, We Remember or Archives), you can always contact us at the related brand and, for some Services, they may also have an online request form accessible from that service’s account settings menu (contact information and link to online request form, if available, are here).

To email your request to delete, email us at [email protected]. We are required to verify your identity before we delete your data. We will require you to provide proof of identity and California address (e.g., you may be required to provide a copy of your government ID, which will be used solely to verify your identity and address).

If you are an “Authorized Agent” pursuant to the CCPA and are submitting a request to know on behalf of one of our users, see Section 17.5.3 below.

17.5.3 Authorized Agents. The CCPA allows California residents to use “authorized agents” to make requests to know and requests for deletion. To use an authorized agent, email us at [email protected]. Note that even if a consumer chooses to use an authorized agent for a request, the consumer will still need to work directly with us to provide items 3 and 4 below:

Proof that the authorized agent is registered with the Secretary of State to conduct business in California.
Signed permission from the consumer allowing the authorized agent to act on the consumer’s behalf.
Verification of the consumer’s identity (to be made directly by the consumer to us). We will require proof of identity and California address (e.g., a copy of your government ID, which will be used solely to verify your identity and address).

Please note: The report will be delivered to the consumer via their Ancestry account. Also note that the report does not include a copy of the consumer’s DNA Data or family trees. If the consumer wants to download their family trees or DNA Data, see Section 17.5.1 above.

17.6 Selling. Ancestry does not sell your Personal Information, and has not sold it in the 12 months prior to the effective date of this California Statement.

17.7 Non-discrimination. We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your rights under the CCPA.

17.8 California’s Shine the Light Law. California Civil Code Section 1798.83, known as the “Shine the Light” law, permits Users who are California residents to request and obtain from us a list of what Personal Information (if any) we disclosed to third parties for their direct marketing purposes in the preceding calendar year and the names and addresses of those third parties. Requests may be made only once a year and are free of charge. Under Section 1798.83, Ancestry currently does not share any Personal Information with third parties for their own direct marketing purposes.

17.9 Annual Reporting. Click to see our annual, global Right to Know/Subject Access and Right to Delete requests.

17.10 Contact Us. If you have questions about our CCPA or California-related privacy policies or practices, please contact us at [email protected].