Privacy Concerns With DNA Testing, Leaky Water Bottles, and Firmware Updates for 4K Monitors: New This Week

When we evaluated DNA ancestry tests last summer (alongside reporting from our parent company, The New York Times), we found that AncestryDNA was the best service because it was the best at tracing people’s ethnic roots and locating living relatives. But recent reports call into question the advisability of participating in these types of services at all. We’re currently rethinking our recommendations, and we will update our guide with our findings and conclusions soon. But in the meantime, here’s what we now know.

This month, Fast Company reported that the Federal Trade Commission is investigating the way that companies such as AncestryDNA and 23andMe (the latter of which we don’t recommend) handle customers’ personal information and genetic data—including sharing or selling it to third parties. A group of lawmakers is also hoping to work directly with these companies to improve their policies.

These efforts come in the wake of several disturbing revelations related to genetic privacy. Earlier this month, MyHeritage announced that 92 million customers’ email addresses and hashed passwords had been compromised in a data breach. (We decided not to recommend MyHeritage because we couldn’t confirm the size of its database and assumed it to be small based on the age of the company.) In April, police used the open-source database GEDmatch (which we didn’t consider) to track down, and ultimately arrest, a suspect in the high-profile Golden State Killer case.

Throughout our guide, we parse through the many valid concerns surrounding at-home DNA ancestry kits: How robust is the science behind DNA ancestry testing? What if it reveals something about a person's family history that they're not okay with? How do our society’s ideas about race and ethnicity—let alone colonization, enslavement, and institutional racism—factor in? How do you know that your personal information, especially your genetic data, will remain private?

A recent Bloomberg investigation shows how it’s nearly impossible to fully erase your genetic data once you’ve spit in a tube—a risk we acknowledged in the first version of our guide. Here at Wirecutter, we always make our recommendations based on the best information we have at the time, and we commit to updating them as we learn more. So for now we’re reevaluating our picks and advice, and keeping an eye on new developments, as we decide how—and whether—we should continue to recommend DNA ancestry testing services.

Here are some other things we updated this week:

Water Bottles: We’ve seen a lot of complaints about the Platypus Meta developing small holes in its base over time, so we’ve removed it as our pick for the best collapsible water bottle. We now recommend the Nomader, which is less versatile than the Platypus but actually holds water.

4K Monitors: After retesting the Dell U2718Q with updated firmware, we’ve decided to make it our runner-up pick, replacing the older Dell P2715Q. We’ve also heard back from BenQ about a flickering problem that’s affecting some PD3200U monitors. It’s due to a firmware issue with a limited number of units, but unfortunately it has to be remedied at a BenQ service center. If your monitor is affected, call BenQ at 866-600-2367 or visit the BenQ support site to start an exchange.

Weed Grinders: Our previous budget pick, the Platinum Grinders Herb Grinder, is now back in stock, so we’re recommending it again in place of the SharpStone V2 Grinder 2-Inch 4-Piece.

Drip Coffee Makers: The OXO On 12-Cup Coffee Brewing System, our previous pick, has been discontinued. We’ve updated our thoughts about it in the Competition section.

Bathroom Rugs and Bath Mats: We’ve added long-term test notes for our top pick, the Lands’ End Supima Non-skid Bath Rug. We’ve also removed the Varick Gallery McBride Embossed Memory Foam Rug as an also-great pick because it’s been out of stock for a while.

Yoga Mats: We tested 10 more yoga mats, but none of them beat our top pick, Lululemon’s The Reversible Mat 5mm, so we’ve added them to the Competition section.

Upright and Canister Vacuums: We’ve added a new section with our thoughts on Dyson vacuums and updated our section on pet hair with some new information.