What DNA evidence is to us
We do not treat a DNA match as proof of a specific family relationship. DNA evidence is analysed separately from documentary genealogy and can support, contradict or leave a relationship unresolved.
Raw genotype files, match lists, AutoCluster exports, segment tables and everything derived from them (haplogroups, shared centimorgans, segments, inferred relationships) are all DNA data and get the same protection.
Who can see a kit
- You, and only the people you explicitly share your tree with.
- We do not operate a public match pool. Another AutoTreeGen user cannot find or browse your kit.
- Staff do not browse DNA data. Operator access to a customer's payload is an audited exception, not a habit.
Does an administrator see raw DNA
No, not in the ordinary course of running the service. Raw files are encrypted at rest on our own servers, and reading one is an audited exception that leaves a record. Logs are redacted when written: genotype rows and email addresses do not land in log destinations.
How consent works
- No DNA file is stored without a consent entry. The upload is refused until the consent box is ticked, and the entry records who, which dataset, when and which version of the consent text.
- Consent is per kit. Withdrawing it closes every read path to that kit by a guard in the code, not by a manual checklist.
- You can withdraw consent and delete the data at any time.
What happens when you delete a kit
- The raw file, the derived data (segments, clusters, haplogroups, inferred relationships) and the kit record are deleted together.
- You can delete your DNA separately at any time and keep the rest of your tree.
- Deleting your account deletes all of your DNA data permanently.
- The backup catch-up window will be published as a number of days. Deleting data does not erase the record that a deletion happened.
Match lists
A match list names other people. It is imported only for the kit it belongs to, visible only where that kit is visible, and deleted with it. People who appear in your match list and never used AutoTreeGen have no account here; they are shown to you as your platform showed them to you, and nowhere else.
Can I upload another person's kit
Only with their permission. By ticking the consent box you confirm that you have the right to upload that genetic data. A kit stays a genome until a human says whose it is; we never guess the person from a file name.
Living people and minors
Living people in your tree are treated as theirs, not only as yours. They are masked before any AI prompt unless you log an override, treated differently in export and sharing, and a living person may ask us to be hidden from the views and exports we control. We may close an account we reasonably believe is used by a minor.
AI and third parties
- DNA data is never used to train AI, ours or anyone's.
- Your raw genotype is stored encrypted on our own servers. The one copy that leaves them is our nightly backup, encrypted on our server before it goes to an off-site object store (Cloudflare R2) and readable only with a key the storage provider never holds. AI features operate on non-genetic tree text, never on raw DNA.
- We never sell, share or transfer DNA data to any third party: no data brokers, no advertisers, no partners. The only outside party that holds any copy is the encrypted-backup storage provider named above, which cannot read it. We refuse third-party data requests unless compelled by a valid legal process.