When a loved one passes away, we try to hold on to their possessions and memories that could possibly fill that gap. We have photographs, old shirts, letters, books, and now, a social media profile.
Digital existence and the fight to claim it came to light when a U.S. mother Karen Williams fought a two-year battle with Facebook for full access to her deceased 22-year-old son’s account. The website relented and gave her 10 months, after which the account would be deleted forever.
But should a person’s ‘digital estate’ be handed over to relatives?
Bengaluru-based cyber law consultant Naavi says, “Unless a user leaves instructions that the site owners need to follow after his death, in the nature of a will, nothing much can be done. Presently, Indian law (Information Technology Act 2008) does not recognise a will if it is written in electronic form. On social networking sites, users might have built some virtual assets, kept at their disposal with a password. When he/she passes away, the assets get frozen. So the right to inherit must be given, as whoever holds the password, holds the assets.”
But passwords follow people to the grave, loyal until the end.
Lawmakers in at least two U.S. states are now considering proposals that would require social networks to grant access to loved ones when a family member dies. For the first time then, content may become part of a person’s digital estate.
“When my brother passed away, no one knew his password, so all we could do was constantly check his page, on a popular social networking website, for messages his friends had for him. His page was active for about six months, after which it was deactivated. It was painful but we didn’t know what to do about it,” recounts Rajesh Krishnan, who lost his brother in a road accident.
“It’s just for the photographs. She’s smiling in all of them looking so happy and I just want it to be there forever. I can show the world how beautiful my daughter was,” adds Sanjay Sharma, who lost his daughter in a car crash.
It is indeed a sensitive topic. But sorrow is to be shared, and isn’t that what the networks are all about?