Dead people don't have DP rights as such:
s.1 DPA 1998 (1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—
...
"personal data" means data which relate to a *living* individual...
Although data that relating to the deceased that has implications for other
data subjects, e.g. genetic data, would presumably remain personal data -
just of another party.
WRT to Facebook, as part of their agreement with the Canadian Information
Commissioner, they stated in August 2009:
*****************
4. Accounts of Deceased Users
Issue: People should have a better way to provide meaningful consent to
have their account "memorialized" after their death. As such, Facebook
should be clear in its privacy policy that it will keep a user's profile
online after death so that friends can post comments and pay tribute.
Response: Facebook agreed to change the wording in its privacy policy to
explain what will happen in the event of a user's death.
Facebook has committed to a timetable for implementing all of the changes,
some of which, such as the third-party application changes, are
technologically complex. The company has already started to make changes
and we expect them to be fully complete within a year.
<http://www.priv.gc.ca/media/nr-c/2009/nr-c_090827_e.cfm>
*****************
This does not however provide a clear indication, at this time, of their
practice in respect of dead Facebookers.
Andrew
--On 16 October 2009 14:48 +0100 Kevin Broadfoot <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> Not strictly a DP issue but as it's Friday afternoon I hope you'll
> forgive me.
>
> I was running a DP course this morning and was asked about privacy rights
> for the dead! Or more specifically what rights do family members have to
> request the taking down of personal websites such as Facebook and Bebo
> etc when the individual dies? I've never thought of this before and
> don't use Facebook etc so am not aware whether any rights are granted in
> their policies. Can anyone offer an answer? I could imagine the
> accessible social networking sites of deceased individuals becoming
> useful in support of identity theft.
>
> rgds,
>
> Kevin
Andrew Charlesworth
Reader in IT and Law
Director, Centre for IT and Law
School of Law/Department of Computer Science
University of Bristol
Wills Memorial Building
Queens Road, Bristol BS8 1RJ
Tel: 0117 954 5633 (CompSci)
0117 954 5355 (Law)
Fax: 0117 954 5208 (CompSci)
E-mail:
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