Should executors be allowed access to a deceased persons’ email and Facebook accounts?
Yes, I believe that people should have access to a deceased persons’ email and Facebook accounts. I think that in this situation the person that should be given the access to these accounts should be the same person who is given all of the deceased person’s material assets. So if a mother dies and the daughter is given the mothers estate, the access to the mother’s digital information should also be given to the daughter as well. As the article mentioned, people used to lock things up with a lock and key but now it’s with passwords over the internet. So the same way that someone is given access to a deceased persons safe deposit box after they die, that person should be given their digital information as well. Maybe a way to settle this problem would be if people were advised to specify their requests in a will. Much like people will their property or material assets to people when they die, maybe people would want to do the same with digital info. Also if a person is against giving up their digital information after they die maybe their information can be deleted for them as per their requests in their will. This is a very gray area in the law but in my opinion digital information that is password protected on the internet should be handled the same way that a locked safe of a deceased person is handled.
Why would technology companies like Google be opposed to laws that allow other people to access a user’s account after that person dies?
I think a company like Google would be opposed to this because I think it makes them look bad. People are very paranoid that their information is too accessible on the internet, and if new laws are implemented that may force Google to give the information of the deceased it might scare people away. If people know that when they die their digital information will be released, it might freak them out. They will think that their privacy only lasts as long as they are alive. Now some people might not mind that idea but I think it would bother other people knowing that their information may be in the wrong hands. So, to sum it up I think this would hurt Google’s reputation and it would prove the paranoia that all your info is indeed saved and these big companies can assess, and use, that information very easily without your consent.
