By continuing to use this site, you hereby acknowledge that you have read, understand, and agree to abide by the following Terms of Service, and you acknowledge and consent to the use of cookies on this site as described herein.


Borland Genetics uses authentication cookies to ensure that your password works and that you remain logged in when you move between pages on the site. These cookies also help to ensure a seamless user experience while you are logged in, and are essential for proper functioning of the features on the site.

You have the right to delete any DNA kit you have uploaded or generated. However, the purpose of this website is to facilitate collaboration among users with respect to reconstructing the genomes of one another's ancestors and other family members, and once you have uploaded a DNA kit, it is possible that other users will use the data you provided, as a component of their reconstruction workflows. Should another user incorporate information you uploaded or generated on this site into his or her reconstruction (perhaps by phasing one of his or her kits against one of yours), you expressly allow him or her to do so, and you understand that you hold no right to request deletion of any DNA kits generated by any other user on the grounds that your private information was used in part to create their synthetic DNA kit. You also understand that other users have the right to download the DNA kits they generate on the site, regardless of whether any of your kits were used to assist in the generation of such kits, and you hereby grant permission for such other users to do so. For example, if you upload a DNA kit for yourself and you have elected to keep your donor profile private, another user's DNA kit may match your kit, and that user may use the Phoenix tool to create a new synthetic kit capturing the matching alleles his or her kit shares with yours. Typically, the other user will then assign the new kit a public donor profile representing your shared ancestor from which you both inherited the overlapping segment(s) of DNA. Although the Phoenix tool created the kit using a combination/comparison of your DNA alleles and the other user's alleles, you shall have no right to request that the user delete his or her work.

You are the owner of the DNA kits you upload and/or generate using the tools on this website. You are free to download any such synthetic kits you generate, should you desire to do so. Borland Genetics claims no copyright or other intellectual property with respect to the data stored in the output files generated by Borland Genetics tools.

Throughout the content of this website, you may see mentioned the names of other popular genealogy websites, such as DNA Painter, GEDmatch, Ancestry.com, Family Tree DNA, My Heritage, 23 & Me, etc. Borland Genetics is not affiliated in any way with any of these third party websites. However, as Borland Genetics understands that its users are typically also users of such websites, for your convenience, Borland Genetics strives to make its tools compatible (where practical) with other sites and tools, by such practices including (i) providing instructions on how data generated on this site can be used in conjunction with data and tools on other websites (for example, the instructions describing how to use the GEDmatch Segment Search tool found on a screen within the HIR Mapper tool); and (ii) allowing you to store information you obtained from other sites for book-keeping purposes (for example, allowing you to store third party kit identification numbers to assist you in keeping track of which kits you have uploaded to those sites). Such practices do not in any way imply that any third party has authorized the uploading of synthetic DNA kits on their website, and do not imply that any such sites have authorized or endorse any content on this site. Please consult the terms of service of any third party website prior to uploading any DNA kits generated by Borland Genetics, as some sites may prohibit such activity. Other sites may require that synthetic kits meet certain requirements so as not to interfere with the operation of tools on their sites, or that such kits be labeled in a certain manner. You agree that as a productive and ethical member of the community, it is your responsibility to abide by the policies of any applicable third party sites with respect to both uploading content generated by Borland Genetics on such sites, and uploading any potentially proprietary information to Borland Genetics that you obtained from such sites.

Borland Genetics takes significant measures to keep the data stored on its site secure from hackers and other threats. However, in the event of learning of a data security breach, Borland Genetics will notify you within 24 hours, and will thereafter keep you informed as to the resolution of such breach and as to steps that will be taken to prevent future similar breaches.

You hereby agree not to harass any other user via the website's messaging system or via any other form of communication. Examples of harassment include sending repetitive messages, making threats in attempt to convince a user to delete information, use of inappropriate language, discrimination of another user based on their race, gender, nationality or ethnic background, attempting to meet another user in person without that person's consent, attempting to publicly embarrass another user in the Borland Genetics Facebook Users Group, and last but not least, being rude to other users that you don't agree with. Depending on the nature and severity of such behavior and the credibility of facts alleged and evidence presented, Borland Genetics reserves the right to summarily delete accounts of users who are reported to be in violation of this harassment policy.

This Terms of Service agreement is a contract that establishes the legally binding terms you must accept to use the Borland Genetics website. You may not use the website (i) if you are a person prohibited from accepting the terms stated herein under the laws in the jurisdiction where you are a resident or from where you access the website; or (ii) if you are not of the legal age to form a binding contract with Borland Genetics. You may not submit your own DNA data nor your biographical data if you are under the age of 18. Parents and legal guardians may however upload data that pertains to children under the 18, but only if the donor profiles of minors are designated as private.

By accepting these terms, you guarantee that you are not an employer or insurance company attempting to obtain information about an insured person or an employee.

Borland Genetics respects your privacy and does not sell your data to any third parties. However, Borland Genetics does charge some users for subscription access to certain advanced tools on this website. Subscription users remain bound by these same Terms of Service, and are not given any additional access to your private information. Additionally, Please note that Borland Genetics staff may from time to time access your private data to the extent necessary to carry out necessary functions to maintain the website, and to the extent necessary to assist with support tickets from users. For example, another user may complain that one of your DNA kits appears on their match list, but a technical issue is suspected to be causing a false positive match. In that case, Borland Genetics staff will view your private data to the extent necessary to troubleshoot the problem.

You may discover information about yourself that you and/or your family did not anticipate. Some of the information you receive may be unexpected and may lead to distress. Examples may involve: (i) information about your origins that contradicts prior assumptions; (ii) the discovery of an unknown relative; or (iii) discovering unexpected genetic information about a potential health condition. As a user, you take responsibility for any consequences that could result from learning unexpected information as a result of viewing the content of this website.

Borland Genetics provides you with interpretations relating to your DNA and the DNA of other members, that may rely on recent scientific studies. Many of the DNA reconstruction processes and techniques used on this site were developed by Borland Genetics since 2018. In the future, scientific research may change the way your DNA will be interpreted and the scientific community may show past research to be incomplete or inaccurate. Furthermore, making use of the information provided on this site may require you as a user to draw your own conclusions based on the information provided. As such, you agree to hold Borland Genetics harmless with respect to any potentially incorrect conclusions drawn from interpretations or information provided on the site, regardless of whether such conclusions are the result of errors on the part of Borland Genetics, errors or misrepresentations on the part of other users, or errors in conclusions reached by you.

Upon uploading a DNA kit to Borland Genetics, the file is processed and converted to a format optimized for use with Borland Genetics tools. Your original file is discarded immediately. The process is irreversible, so if you should elect to download your data at a later date, you may do so, but the data will not be in the same format as when you originally uploaded it.

You hereby agree not to use any information obtained on this site for any criminal or illegal purpose.

Users may occasionally have an opportunity to join and/or assist in the administration of certain regional or family projects from time to time on this website. When you submit DNA kits to a project, whether factory or synthetic, and when you submit donor profiles to a project, whether corresponding to living or deceased individuals, you understand that such kits and profiles will be accessible by all other project members as if they were public (although they will remain private to users who are not admitted to the project). For an analagous type of privacy setting, think about a closed group on Facebook in which posts within the group can be seen by all members admitted to the group, but not by other users who are not in the group. Since donor profiles and kits submitted to projects can be seen as if public to other project members, you agree not to submit to projects the DNA kits of, or donor profiles corresponding to, minor children. You may however submit reconstructed ancestor DNA kits that were generated by Borland Genetics tools that required as input the DNA of such minors (for example, synthetic DNA kits representing the DNA of your parents generated by reverse phasing your DNA with that of your minor child). However, you should never provide the actual names of those minor children in any public notes you attach to those kits.

As a security measure to prevent users from cloning kits of other users, most Borland Genetics tools require that at least one of the input DNA kits be a kit from your DNA inventory. Any intentional attempt to subvert these measures will result in immediate account deletion.

The privacy paradigm on this website is much like the privacy best practices you will be used to if you are a genealogist who has shared a family tree online. While you are of course encouraged to share information regarding yourself and post your family tree to assist other users, donor profiles you create for living individuals besides yourself should be designated private unless you obtain their express permission to designate them as public. You should also refrain from mentioning living individuals by name in any public notes you attach to your kits. On the other hand, donor profiles of deceased individuals will be designated as public by default. These profiles should remain public. The analogy of designating donor profiles of deceased individuals as private in the world of paper genealogy would be akin to creating a Find-a-Grave page and using a pseudonym for the interred. It would frustrate the purpose of the site (assisting others to find the graves of their ancestors). The reason for existence of the Borland Genetics website is to preserve a public genealogical record of the genomes of the deceased, which would likewise be frustrated if donor profiles of deceased individuals were marked private or given aliases.

You are responsible for keeping a valid e-mail on file which will be used as your log-in. If you fail to do so, it may be difficult or impossible to restore your account in the event you forget your password.

You agree that the services provided by Borland Genetics on this website are not essential services upon which you rely. Accordingly, Borland Genetics shall not be liable to you or to any third party for any modification, suspension, or discontinuance of the services. Likewise, in the event that Borland Genetics deems it appropriate to modify these Terms of Service, it may do so at any time, so long as such modifications remain in compliance with the laws and regulations of Florida. In the event that these Terms of Service change, you will be so notified and given opportunity to accept or reject such changes the next time you log on to the website. If you should reject the changed terms, your only recourse is to download your data and close your account, thereby terminating your relationship as a customer of Borland Genetics.

Should these Terms of Service be deemed non-compliant with the GDPR in the European Union or with relevant privacy regulations applicable in the United States (generally governed by state law), this agreement shall not be treated as void, but rather any non-compliant terms shall be interpreted as if compliant, i.e. binding Borland Genetics to the stricter standard imposed by the law. Borland Genetics does not agree to be bound by strict privacy regulations in countries that altogether prohibit on-line sharing of DNA information or that prohibit DNA testing generally. If you as a user reside in or are accessing the internet from a country with such restrictive laws or regulations in place, it is your responsibility to follow the applicable laws.

Borland Genetics employs web analytics tools for the purposes of tracking and projecting server expenses and monitoring for security threats. The current service provider is Amazon.com, but Borland Genetics reserves the right to change service providers without notice to meet its business and security needs.

Certain DNA reconstruction workflows involve the generation of DNA kits that do not represent real individuals. Examples include the generation of intermediate pseudo-sibling kits for visual phasing projects or unbound output from the Ultimate Phaser tool. You agree to designate the donor profiles associated with those kits private, so as not to confuse other users. Don't worry. You will be reminded of this requirement and given instructions on how to do so, upon generation of such a research kit.

When you share a donor profile or a public note on a kit as public, you are truly sharing the information publicly. You understand and agree that any other user can take a screenshot of their matches' public donor profiles and share it on a site like Facebook and you will have no recourse. It is not an act of plagiarism or a privacy violation for another user to do so. Nor is it in any way unethical. After all, you designated the profile as public. You should be aware that there are many forums on social media where people post such screenshots when asking for help interpreting their DNA data and they shouldn't have to waste time figuring out how to redact their screenshots because you may have made an embarrassing public note about your uncle Harry in his kit's public notes or because you were wearing an ugly sweater in your public profile picture. Also, you hereby agree to allow users (including Borland Genetics staff) to make unredacted tutorials demonstrating how to use the tools on this website and post them to YouTube or elsewhere for the benefit of the community. If you do not approve of these kinds of fair use of the information you have designated as public, you should designate your kit as private. If you do not agree to these kinds of fair use with respect to public donor profile information of your deceased relatives, this is probably not the website for you. However, if you're interested in using the most advanced mathematical DNA reconstruction technology publicly available to create and preserve the DNA record of your ancestors, and if you enjoy participating in a collaborative and helpful community of like minded users, you've found the right website. Enjoy!

Some of the Borland Genetics web tools contain embedded Google Maps. These maps employ third party cookies that are used by Google for the following purposes: 1) for functionality of Google Maps (OGPC, UULE); 2) to block attempts to steal the contents of forms that you complete on web pages (SID, HSID); 3) to store user preferences and information related to the way Google maps are displayed (APISID, SIDCC, SSID); 4) to customize ads on Google websites (1P_JAR, ANID, NID, SAPISID); and 5) for functionality of Google Analytics which provides Google with an aggregate analysis of website visitors (OTZ). From time to time Google may change its cookie policies without providing notice to Borland Genetics. Google's cookie policies can be found here.

Your data is currently being stored on a server operated by Amazon.com. However, Borland Genetics may change service providers at any time without further notice, as may be commercially advantageous. Storing your data and operating the Borland Genetics website is expensive, and most of the services provided here are free. Therefore, Borland Genetics is not responsible for perpetually storing your data. You should download and back up your files just as you do with any other important genealogical evidence. That being said, Borland Genetics does intend to keep this website running as long as commercially feasible, and intends to make arrangements for smooth change of website ownership and administration in the event that anything unforeseeable should happen to Kevin Borland (e.g. death, serious injury, mental incapacitation, financial misfortune, etc.). Upon any such future change in ownership and administration of the website, you hereby agree to be bound to these same Terms of Service with respect to Mr. Borland's successor(s) who are to be appointed by the Board of Directors of Borland Genetics, Inc.

Borland Genetics, Inc., is a Corporation headquartered and established in the state of Florida, USA.

You hereby agree to contact Borland Genetics immediately if you discover that your account was accessed without your authorization. The site's administrator, Kevin Borland, can be reached by e-mail at kborland@alum.mit.edu.

By using the site, you authorize Borland Genetics to release aggregated non-identifiable data to the public and/or other users. Examples of such data usage include, but are not limited to 1) making public the number or percentage of users from a certain country, state or region; 2) making public the number of DNA kits in the database corresponding to certain statistically significant metrics such as factory kits vs. reconstructed kits, company/source statistics, etc.; 3) making public statistical information regarding human population genetics learned from aggregated DNA, such as revealing the percentage of donors that possess a certain genotype variant; and 4) revealing to site users the ethnic origins of their DNA segments based on aggregated user data. Borland Genetics may also use such data to improve its tools generally, and may conduct studies to improve security controls and to improve data validation and integrity measures.

You hereby warrant that your use of the Borland Genetics website is not in your capacity as an agent of any law enforcement organization attempting to identify a criminal suspect or a suspected witness to a crime. While uploading the DNA of a deceased individual for the purpose of victim identification is permitted, uploading crime scene DNA for the purpose of identifying a suspect, a witness or relatives thereof, is strictly prohibited.

By accepting these terms, you acknowledge that you understand and accept that certain users may have non-genealogy related reasons for using this website, such as adoptees attempting to locate estranged family members, volunteers attempting to identify crime victims or victims of war, and individuals such as students conducting academic research, and you expressly permit any of the information you designate as public (including your messenger handle), as well as any information learned from ordinary use of Borland Genetics tools acting upon your private DNA file(s), by users complying with these Terms of Service, to be used for any such purposes. That is, nothing in these Terms of Service prevents such users from using the information available to them on this site via the same tools to which you have access, to further such purposes. By accepting these Terms, you also acknowledge that you understand that while law enforcement use of the site to identify criminal suspects or suspected criminal witnesses is not permitted, nothing prevents a court from issuing a warrant or other legal request for information stored on this site, and in such cases, Borland Genetics will comply with any such warrant or request in good faith to the extent required by law. If you do not consent to such uses described herein, please do not upload your DNA data to this site. By providing your private DNA information to Borland Genetics, you are opting to permit any and all such uses of your data as described herein.

As a user, you have the right to request the deletion of your personal information from our systems, subject to any legal record-keeping or compliance obligations required by the state of Florida or the United States. Should you wish to delete your personal information from the Borland Genetics database and data lake, you agree to use the account deletion functionality available within the Settings tab on our website. This process is designed to be straightforward and user-friendly, incorporating an email authentication step to ensure the security and integrity of your data. This crucial step is in place to prevent unauthorized access and requests, aligning with GDPR's emphasis on data protection. Filing a support ticket for account deletion should be reserved for exceptional circumstances, such as when you experience technical difficulties with the standard self-service process. In the event that you are unable to use the self-service method due to technical issues, our support team is available to assist. However, the email authentication step will remain a mandatory part of the process. Users are expected to monitor their support ticket and can anticipate a response typically within 5 business days, which will include further instructions on how to proceed with account deletion.