To thee I leave my Facebook account: New laws considered to make social networks part of your inheritance
PUBLISHED: 15:53 GMT, 4 April 2012 | UPDATED: 08:08 GMT, 5 April 2012
New legislation is being debated in the U.S to give relatives and friends the authority to manage social networking accounts belonging to their deceased loved ones, essentially making the site contents part of a person's digital estate.
Currently when Facebook learns of a death, it locks that person's account placing it in a memorialized state.
Company policy states it will provide the estate of the deceased with a download of the account data 'if prior consent is obtained from or decreed by the deceased or mandated by law.'
The legislation is being campaigned for by Karen Williams, whose son, Loren, died in a motorcycle crash.
The Oregon woman was left distraught after emailing Facebook asking administrators to maintain her 22-year-old's account, only for the company to change the password and block her efforts.
'I wanted full and unobstructed access, and they balked at that,' said Williams, recalling her son's death in 2005. 'It was heartbreaking. I was a parent grasping at straws to get anything I could get.'
Now lawmakers and attorneys in at least two states are considering proposals that would require Facebook and other social networks to grant access to loved ones when a family member dies.
It took a two-year legal battle for Williams to get back into her son's account, resulting in Facebook granting her 10 months of access before her son's page was removed.
Nebraska is reviewing legislation modeled after a law in Oklahoma, which last year became the first state to take action.
'Mementos, shoeboxes with photos. That, we knew how to distribute once someone passed away,' said Ryan Kiesel, a former legislator who wrote the Oklahoma law. 'We wanted to get state law and attorneys to begin thinking about the digital estate.'
Like the Oklahoma law, the Nebraska bill would allow friends or relatives to take control of social media accounts if the deceased person lived in the state.
The measure would treat Facebook, Twitter and email accounts as digital assets that could be closed or continued by an appointed representative.
Facebook spokesman Tucker Bounds said the company was surprised by the Oklahoma law and was working closely with Nebraska legislators on the latest proposal.
'I can tell you there aren't people pouring out into the streets asking for access,' Bounds said.
Oregon could be the next state to take up the issue. The Oregon State Bar Association has formed a group to work on the matter and hopes to propose legislation next year.
Portland lawyer Victoria Blachly said the plan will mirror the Oklahoma law, but it will also include a 'virtual asset instruction letter' that lists online information and passwords, along with instructions for when someone dies or becomes incapacitated.
'Some people say 'Well, if I get hit by a bus, what do I care?' she said. 'The people who love you care very much about it,' Blachly said.
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