Whom belongs data after death?

[Nik]

Read an article today that claims media giants' (Face, Google, Twitter, etc) policy is strikingly different in how they treat the accounts of the deceased.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardm...
What do you think should happen to our "digital legacy"? Should heirs have an access or better not, in order not to discover .....?
(Might be in line with a sinister mood of the recent weeks :))

[Marie]

I have some friends of friends that have died and they just keep their facebook pages up as memorials. A friend of my brothers died about 4 years ago but the friend's facebook page is still up and every year all the friends go walking down memory lane on his facebook page. So personally I do not see any harm in leaving the page up. Who is it hurting by leaving the page up there? Facebook needs to leave stuff alone - let people mourn however they see fit without causing a ruckus about something. There is that old saying "if it's not broke - don't fix it". Oh and sorry for the rant! :-)

[Scout]

Well said, Marie.

[Nik]

Marie wrote: "https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20... ..."

Yeah, can be digital monuments.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20...

[Papaphilly]

My thought is it should be treated like any other asset of the deceased. If the executor wants to take it down, then they should be able to if they provide a death certificate.

[Marie]

Scout wrote: "Well said, Marie."

I am sorry that I didn't see this Scout! :( Thank you for agreeing with me. :)

[Marie]

Nik wrote: "Marie wrote: "https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20... ..."

Yeah, can be digital monuments.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20......"

That was a very interesting article Nik! Thank you for sharing that on here. :)

I can see by reading that article it would be hard for some people to move on with their grief after a loved one has passed away and that it would be hard on them to see that person still exist on facebook.

For some people it helps them relive the memories of their loved ones but for others it would feel like day to day grief.

What was really shocking by that article is how many facebook user accounts are on there where people have died!

The other problem of why so many accounts are still open is because families/friends would have a hard time taking down the site as normally facebook is protected by emails and passwords. If a family member or friend does not have the password for that account they are not going to be able to access it to take it down.

Otherwise it might not be such a big digital graveyard as they say if the accounts were able to be accessed as not all users leave their facebook sites open as sometimes they will log out of the site. Once they log out then someone would have to know the email/password to get back in.

[Nik]

Won't be surprised to see wills expanded as the common practice to include instructions concerning digital legacy, like "in case I pass away as a result of coronavirus, I hereby bequest my facebook profile, login ..... p/w...., goodreads .............. to be deleted/maintained (underline your choice) ......" and so on :)

[Scout]

I can see that happening. Good idea and something to consider when making a will.

[Lizzie]

I recall something on FB during the past few years that allowed me to appoint someone to control by page/profile upon my death. It just showed up in something one day so I put in my daughter.

When my son was arrested in 2012, the first thing we were told to do was to take down his FB page. He had been using my computer so I was able to figurre out his sign on information from where I was then able to take down his page.

[Marie]

Actually I have been seeing in my settings on facebook lately there is a new setting that says this: "Memorialization settings: Decide what happens to your account after you pass away."

Now I never remember seeing that setting except in the last few months it popped up. Of course it could have been a hidden setting, but now it is located in your general settings on facebook.

[Nik]

Marie wrote: "Actually I have been seeing in my settings on facebook lately there is a new setting that says this: "Memorialization settings: Decide what happens to your account after you pass away."

Now I neve..."

Interesting. Wonder if the Face profile is bequeathed to Mark, whether he'll have time to add virtual flowers on certain dates? :) I can imagine a giant internet site full of ghosts and deceased, reading all the fake news and advertisements - a scary incarnation of Gogol's Dead Souls