http://rockcenter.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/01/11995859-digital-afterlife-what-happens-to-your-online-accounts-when-you-die
Digital Afterlife: What happens to your online
accounts when you die?
In
2011, Benjamin Stassen was 21 years old when he committed suicide. Living in
this digital era, Benjamin's parents wanted to find clues as to why their son
decided to end his life. They realized the best shot they have are his online
accounts, mainly social media sites.
After
sending in a court order to Facebook requesting access to their deceased son's
account, Facebook replied saying they're sorry for their loss but due to
privacy policies, they were unable to release contents. But the Stassen's
weren't going to stop there. They wanted answers, and these answers could be
hidden in their deceased son's social media accounts, and if not it could at
the least be some form of closure for the grieving parents.
Currently,
only five states have estate laws that include digital assets; Connecticut,
Rhode Island, Oklahoma, Indiana and Idaho. With the exception of Oklahoma and
Idaho including social networking and blogging as part of these estates, the
other three only include e-mail. But even then, they still must confront the
social networking site itself, as the Stassen's did with Facebook.
Yes
most people don't think about what's going to happen to their online accounts
when they die, but perhaps people are start going to when more cases like this
arise.
Google,
Yahoo and Facebook have taken the position that the user probably intended for
the contents of their account to remain private, which is why they choose to
not disclose any user's information once deceased. These companies have certain
expectations of privacy with users accounts. Perhaps because of the liability
issues. There are certain states that actually prohibit internet companies from
disclosing information without the permission of the user. But what about the
Stassen's case?
The
Stassen’s have received the contents of Benjamin's Gmail account as a result of
filing a court order. Google also stated that they provided this because it is
a "rare occasion" and his parents are authorized representatives,
however they still have not received any contents from Facebook.
According
to Facebook, there are 2 options for dead users accounts. The account can be
memorialized which means the profile will be left up for family and friends to
look at and post in remembrance, however it restricts the profile and
associated content to the Facebook "friends" that the deceased had
while alive. Or, the family members can have the account deactivated if they
choose to do so.
With
majority of states not having definite law of digital assets with it comes to a
users death, companies must look to their user agreements and laws of the
individual states. Currently, it comes down to loved ones having to file a
court order.
So
what does this mean for the future? In this digital era, where people can know
where you are, who you're with and how long you've been there just by a click
or touch from a smartphone or computer, clearly this issue is going to raise
more concern in the near future. In the Stassen's case, it is a sad time for
the family, however this is the digital era we live in. Although we think our
privacy is gone due to the internet and social networking sites, it is apparent
we still do have some form of definite privacy when it comes to people
accessing our accounts and passwords. But isn't this what we want? Except in
the rare occasions such as the Stassens. With all of the hacking that has
happened to people over the years, you would think these internet companies
policies are a good thing, however it seems it all comes down to the
circumstances. Yahoo for example says on
its site that all accounts are non-transferable and it will delete an account
when they receive a death certificate.
So what do we do?
It seems there are limited options until there is an official law passed in
terms of deceased individuals digital assets. We can set up a joint account so
that at least one other individual has access to the account. We can discuss
with our close loved ones exactly what we want to happen with our account,
however this still may include giving up your password etc. while you're still
alive. Other than that it seems we must wait to see what these Internet
companies decide to do. Some companies such as Entrustet and Legacy Locker
allow users to come up with a plan for the life their online accounts after
you've passed. For now all we can do is try to keep our accounts under control
and private unless we wish to do otherwise.
