DNA & Biometric Consent
Draft — pending legal review.
DNA is not ordinary personal data. It is the most permanent information you will ever share: you cannot change it, and it says things about your relatives as well as about you. This page explains, in plain language, exactly what you would be agreeing to — and what we will never do.
1. The single most important fact
Crypto-jews.org never receives, sees, stores or retains your DNA sample or your genetic data. Your swab travels directly to the testing partner and is processed solely by them. We are not a genetics company. We hold no genetic database. We could not hand over your DNA if we wanted to, because we never have it.
2. What you would be consenting to
Two separate things — and they are genuinely separate:
- (a) Processing your sample. That the testing partner may analyse your cheek swab to produce an ancestry and ethnicity estimate and DNA relative matches, and return a limited ancestry indicator to us so we can tell you the outcome. This is required in order to take the test at all.
- (b) Research use — optional. That the testing partner may additionally use your genetic data internally for research into Jewish ancestry patterns. This is optional. You can refuse it and still receive your kit and your results. It is never bundled with (a), and we will never treat a refusal as a reason to deprioritise you.
Under the GDPR, genetic data is «special-category» data, and consent to process it must be explicit, informed, specific and freely given. That is why these are two checkboxes and not one, and why neither is pre-ticked.
3. What the test reports
An ethnicity/ancestry estimate — including a Sephardic Jewish category where it is detectable — and DNA relative or cousin matches. It does not report health, medical or disease information of any kind. If you are looking for health results, this is the wrong test.
4. What a result is not
A result is a genealogical research clue. It is not proof of Jewish status, and it does not establish eligibility under Israel's Law of Return or for Spanish or Portuguese citizenship. Those determinations are made only by the competent rabbinic, communal or governmental authorities. Any ancestry indicator we report back to you means «markers associated with these populations were detected» — nothing more. Please read our honest guide to what these tests can and cannot show before you decide.
5. What it may reveal about your family
Take this seriously before you swab. Ancestry testing and relative matching can uncover things nobody was looking for: unknown siblings, misattributed parentage, adoption, or a family story that turns out to be untrue. These discoveries cannot be undone, and they affect relatives who never consented to anything. Only you can judge whether that is a risk worth taking.
6. Withdrawing consent, and deletion
You may withdraw consent at any time. Withdrawal is not retroactive — it cannot un-analyse a sample already processed — but it stops any further use, including research use.
- The intake details we hold (name, email, address, country): email us and we will delete them.
- Your sample and genetic data: you must contact the testing partner directly. Only they hold it, and only they can delete it. We will tell you exactly who they are and how to reach them.
7. Age
You must be 18 or older, and the sample must be your own. Do not submit anyone else's DNA. If you want to test a relative, they must request their own kit and consent for themselves.
8. Where your data goes
Your sample and genetic data: to the testing partner only. Your intake details: through Formspree (hosted on AWS in the United States) to us. Nothing is sold, to anyone, ever. See our Privacy Policy for the full picture, including international transfers.
9. If any of this changes
If the testing partner changes, or the terms of processing change, we will publish it here and ask for your consent again. We will not quietly re-purpose a consent you gave for something else.
10. Contact
crypto-jews-org@protonmail.com — we reply within a few business days.