<p>When you use SelfDecode, you put your trust in us.
Our goal is for you to always feel informed, empowered, and respected during your SelfDecode experience.</p>
<p>We’ve written this Platform Consent to help you make sense of what using the SelfDecode Platform means.
It tells you the benefits, risks, and limitations of using the SelfDecode Platform.
Please take the time to read it with care.</p>
<p>If you have questions, we’re here to help! If you have any questions, you can contact us at support@selfdecode.com.</p>
<p>You must be 18 or older to use the SelfDecode Platform.
You can also find more details about SelfDecode and the SelfDecode Platform here:</p>
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<p>Terms of Service</p>
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<p>Privacy Policy</p>
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</ul> Important terms <p>Any terms we don’t define here are defined in our Terms of Service or Privacy Policy.</p>
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<p>SelfDecode Products: Products and services that use portions of your DNA.
They are featured on the SelfDecode Platform.</p>
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<p>Genetic Information: Your sequenced DNA and interpretation of the data.
We derive it from the file you upload and store it for you to use with SelfDecode Products.</p>
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<p>SelfDecode: When you see the words “we,” “us,” or “our,” we’re talking about SelfDecode.</p>
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<p>SelfDecode Insights: Insights about you provided by SelfDecode based on your DNA, including our Genetic Reports.</p>
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<p>SelfDecode Platform: The SelfDecode Store and Site, plus the process we use to store your Genetic Information.</p>
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<p>SelfDecode Store: Where we feature SelfDecode Products.</p>
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<p>Self-Reported Information: Other details about you that aren’t a part of your DNA.
It may include details about your health, family tree, lifestyle, and behaviors.</p>
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</ul> Purpose of the SelfDecode Platform <p>SelfDecode was founded to empower every person to improve their life through their genetics.</p>
<p>To that end, SelfDecode provides the SelfDecode Platform, which features personalized information and a number of SelfDecode Products that can give you insights about yourself based on your genetics.
Some of them also offer you services based on those insights.
There are many types of SelfDecode Products on the SelfDecode Platform.
Each type can give you certain kinds of insights.
SelfDecode also provides SelfDecode Insights.
You can access these insights as part of your SelfDecode Account and subscription.</p>
<p>You can use the SelfDecode Platform to read personalized information or browse and buy SelfDecode Products.
Over time, new SelfDecode Products will be added to the SelfDecode Platform.
You can buy as many (or as few) of these products as you want.
Before you buy a product, you’ll be informed what you can expect to learn from it.
You’ll also learn what information we will use to create it.</p> Using the SelfDecode Platform <p>– Providing your genetic file</p>
<p>To use the SelfDecode Platform, you must upload your genetic file. </p>
<p>– Getting insights from SelfDecode Products</p>
<p>You choose the Products you want to use through the SelfDecode Platform.
When you use a Product, you choose to learn about the portions of your Genetic Information that it needs.</p>
<p>Each Product or Service you use will:</p>
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<p>Use portions of your Genetic Information to offer you insights about yourself.</p>
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<p>Tell you what you can expect to receive from the product.</p>
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<p>Ask you to give your consent for that product to look at portions of your Genetic Information.</p>
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<p>Ask you to share some basic details about you, like your email address.</p>
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<p>– Getting your SelfDecode Insights</p>
<p>If you opt in, SelfDecode will use certain portions of your uploaded sequenced DNA to produce your SelfDecode Insights.
You can then access your SelfDecode Insights through your SelfDecode Account.</p>
<p>Your SelfDecode Insights may give you a glimpse into what Products could offer you, such as:</p>
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<p>If you are more or less likely to have certain traits, like fast caffeine metabolism or being a night owl.</p>
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<p>SelfDecode may also show you which product(s) in the SelfDecode Store take a deeper look at similar insights.</p>
<p>SelfDecode may allow you to connect with other users to share and compare your SelfDecode Insights on the community platform for forum-based discussion .
You can only compare SelfDecode Insights with users with whom you agree to connect and who agree to connect with you.
If you choose not to connect with any other users, no other user will have access to your SelfDecode Insights.
This community platform may be canceled at any time.</p>
<p>– Giving other information about you</p>
<p>The SelfDecode Platform may also ask for your Self-Reported Information.
This information could improve your SelfDecode Insights.
In some cases, it could improve the insights you get from SelfDecode Products.
It could also support other tools and services through the SelfDecode Platform.</p>
<p>– Helping improve the SelfDecode Platform</p>
<p>SelfDecode may use your Genetic Information or Self-Reported Information as part of a pooled data set.
We call these data sets “Aggregated Genetic Information.” This kind of data set combines de-identified data from many SelfDecode Users.
These data sets would not include any details that make it easy to identify you.
SelfDecode may use these data sets for business or promotional purposes.
To use the SelfDecode Platform, you must let SelfDecode use your information as part of these data sets.</p>
<p>SelfDecode strives to give you current, reliable, and high-quality experiences.
As such, a key way that we will use Aggregated Genetic Information is to improve the SelfDecode Platform.
We may do so with our quality control methods.
Some of them may focus on how we store and process your Genetic Information.
Some of them may focus on how you use the SelfDecode Platform.
All information used for quality control will be used only within SelfDecode.</p>
<p>You can find more details about how we use Aggregated Genetic Information in our Privacy Policy.</p> Closing your SelfDecode Account <p>You can stop using the SelfDecode Platform at any time.
You can also choose to close your SelfDecode Account.
More details about this can be found in our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
If you close your SelfDecode Account, neither you nor we can access your information on SelfDecode moving forward.
Closing your SelfDecode Account prevents you from buying any more SelfDecode Products and removes access to your SelfDecode Insights. </p>
<p>We cannot restore your account if you close it.
If you wish to buy new SelfDecode Products or access the SelfDecode Platform, you will need to create a new SelfDecode Account.
To do so, you will also need to upload your genetic file again.
When you close your account, we will archive your information.
We will keep it archived for as long as we must to meet our legal and regulatory requirements.</p> Benefits <p>We intend for you to benefit from the SelfDecode Platform.
You can do so by learning about yourself from your genetic file.
What you learn may be useful for you in a number of ways.
You might assuage your curiosity or simply enjoy learning about your genetics.
You may also be able to apply what you learn to your health, wellness, family planning, and more.</p>
<p>How you benefit may change as your interests, needs, and motivations change through your life.
How you benefit may also change as new SelfDecode Products and Insights are added to the SelfDecode Platform.
You may benefit in ways that we can’t predict today.</p> Risks <p>There are some risks that come with using the SelfDecode Platform.</p>
<p>There is a chance, you could learn something about yourself that you didn’t want to know.
For instance, you could find out something that concerns you about your health.
Since you share DNA with your blood relatives, these learnings could also affect them.
You may want to discuss your options with your doctor, a mental health professional, or a genetic counselor before or after you get your SelfDecode Insights.</p>
<p>Under the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, (GINA), no employer with at least fifteen workers can ask for your Genetic Information.
Neither can any health insurer.
However this does not apply to other groups, such as the US military or companies that offer life, long-term care, or disability insurance.
Some states have safeguards for those types of insurance.
You should be aware of the laws in your state and be careful with whom you choose to share your Genetic Information. </p>
<p>There is a risk of a security event in which someone may access your data without your consent.
These data could include your name, contact details, or Genetic Information.
When combined, these data could allow someone to connect your Genetic Information back to you.
SelfDecode takes active steps to reduce the risk of such an event.
Please see our Privacy Policy for more details.</p>
<p>SelfDecode may need to share details about you with regulators and law enforcement.
These details may include your Genetic Information.
We will only share these details if we are compelled by law to do so.
Please see our Privacy Policy for more details.</p>
<p>Lastly, each SelfDecode Product has its own risks, benefits, and limitations.
The SelfDecode Platform will give you some details about each SelfDecode Product.
You should carefully weigh the risks, benefits, and limitations of each product you choose to buy.
You may way want to talk with a genetic counselor. </p> Limitations <p>The SelfDecode Platform has some limitations.
Some of these are unique to SelfDecode.
Some are related to genetic interpretation in general.
Many of these are also discussed in our Terms of Service.</p>
<p>SelfDecode only stores your genotype file.
Some of the DNA that your genotype file does not contain could be needed for certain insights.</p>
<p>Your Genetic Information cannot tell you everything about yourself.
Your genes are only a part of who you are.</p>
<p>Most traits that your SelfDecode Insights or SelfDecode Products describe are not deterministic.
In other words, your results describe your chance of having a given trait, but they can only rarely predict whether you do for certain.
In some cases, factors like where and how you live can influence this chance more than your DNA.</p>
<p>SelfDecode Insights describe traits that have been studied mostly in people of European descent.
As such, SelfDecode Insights for users from other backgrounds may be less informative.
SelfDecode Products may or may not base their results on science that looked at more diverse groups of people.</p>
<p>Your SelfDecode Insights and Products are based on the current state of knowledge.
Over time, more will be known about DNA and how it affects traits.
As this knowledge improves, we may update your SelfDecode Insights results. </p>
<p>Though not likely, your Genetic Information stored by SelfDecode could have some errors.
In some cases, errors can occur while sequencing your DNA prior to uploading tour genetic file onto our platform, or when we read the uploaded Genetic Information.
SelfDecode has many quality control steps in place to find errors when they occur.</p>
<p>In some cases, we may not be able to read your genetic file for technical reasons, such as not having the SNPs we read to provide you Insights.</p> Questions about the SelfDecode Platform <p>You may have questions about Selfdecode, the SelfDecode Platform, or your use of it.
If you do, you can contact SelfDecode’s Customer Support at support@selfdecode.com. </p>