Having already lived through this process once so far, the online 
issues associated with a death are problematic and not as easily 
answered as the responses so far assume.

To remove access to the 
online world of a deceased person extends the process and difficulties 
associated with advising the right people of the death in an 
appropriate manner.

For example. If an ISP account is held by a 
deceased, my experience has been that it is immediately cut off, 
leaving the bereaved with no way of identifying webmail contacts which 
would enable them to be contacted from another account and informed of 
the death in an appropriate way. This results in enquiries being made 
and received from other sources and a less than ideal notification of 
death process taking place.

If a telephone account and ISP account are 
integrated, then unless specifically requested it is possible both the 
telephone and the on-line account could be terminated at the deceaseds 
home address.  (My experience was that advice to an ISP of a death 
including a request for the telephone to remain active, resulted in the 
immediate closure of broadband access, but the telephone did remain 
active. Subsequently a request was made by the ISP for a death 
certificate so they could close the account completely. In retrospect 
the closure of the broadband account was premature, something 
highlighted by the subsequently required death certificate to 
officially close the account.

During the mourning process and whilst 
the affairs of the deceased are being finalised, on-line access to the 
support services would be a boon. Also not being able to gain access to 
information confirming those active processes a deceased was engaged in 
prior to the time of their death means that they cannot be closed down 
in a considered or considerate way, but are rather suddenly ended in a 
cold organisational way.

Not having dealt with a social networking 
site access, I am only able to speculate along similar lines, but do 
make the following observation; A prime concern of the bereaved in 
those circumstances is to assure the considered notification of a 
deceased’s friends and contacts, in a way that avoids using the 
deceased's on-line identity or e-mail. There could be potential for a 
grieving person to unthinkingly utilise the identity (or e-mail) of a 
deceased person to inform others of the death, so it would seem 
supportive if a read only access were provided to the representative of 
the deceased in circumstances of a notified death until that 
representative notified that all notifications had been concluded and 
the account could be permanently close.

In my opinion if something 
similar to that is not provided, on-line service providers are likely 
to not receive any notification of a death, as representatives will 
avoid doing so in order to avoid the difficulties caused by having the 
on-line world of the deceased cut off before the appropriate 
notifications have been made and actions taken.  Indeed that is one 
possible answer in these stressful times and one I would probably now 
recommend.  Do not notify on-line service providers of a death until 
you are entirely sure all the necessary notifications have taken place. 
I suspect some people may even already follow this route as a means of 
deleting all information and then closing any accounts in a structured 
way which reflects the wishes of the deceased and their family.


Generically this process could be linked to a sadly interesting example 
of the premature notification of a death occurring in the UK recently 
where a murder victims family, who lived in another country, found out 
about their childs death from the social media. A breach of social 
privacy and processes which in my observation and opinion will have 
caused sufficient shock to them to leave an immeasurable amount of 
distress within that family. Imagine in those circumstances then, 
social media or ISP’s also immediately closing the deceaseds on-line 
accounts before the family have time to coherently gather their 
thoughts in order to grieve never mind begin to deal with matters.  I 
cannot even begin to appreciate the additional suffering for a family 
in those circumstances if the media accessing the deceased’s social 
accounts also begin publishing material from them before a family are 
aware never mind having fully grasped the facts of a death. That I 
suppose should be covered within media guidelines and ethical codes but 
recent history shows the value of those; However such issues could well 
be used to support the immediate and complete closure as a means of 
avoiding the embarrassment of society at the expense of a few families 
and family members.

Clearly a difficult and complex area, one which I 
think behoves considered and considerate thoughts and supportive social 
processes built into any answer rather than ones coldly calculated to 
reach a determined socially convenient outcome.


Ian W

-----Original 
Message-----
From: This list is for those interested in Data Protection 
issues [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ibrahim 
Hasan
Sent: 31 January 2012 08:51
To: [log in to unmask]

Subject: [data-protection] The Balance Between Online Privacy and 
Mourning

Several states across the US are considering legislation that 
would give personal representatives legal possession of Facebook 
profiles, Twitter accounts and other online information after a death.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16801154
Interesting...

What about 
the UK. Should we/do we have any similar laws? Discuss.

Regards


Ibrahim Hasan
Solicitor and Director
Act Now Training Limited

For 
training without the strain of the train:
www.actnow.org.uk
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ActNowTraining

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