Thank you for the responses and I agree the situation can be somewhat
complex when the digital environment is considered, a complication
deliberately avoided as consideration of this issue within social
networking and virtual cemetery/remembrance/commemoration sites would
all too vividly illustrate. Those types of digital environments are
perhaps causing some change in perception, which when associated with
the distancing which may be created in the digital world can create
difficulties for close family members overwhelmed in so many ways.
As
pointed out the legal confidential rules surrounding many records held
within the public sector provide some barriers.
As to the admittedly
radical thought of the state taking over ownership of the data of a
deceased (in the same way the coroner does with a cadaver), it may be
that will eventually promote more problems than it potentially solves,
as family members feel they ‘own’ (wrong word but the meaning will be
broadly understood) a deceased family member and have a right (because
of need) to commemorate them in a way that supports, strengthens and
possibly enhances their own memories. Given the way the confidence
rules work in practice it seems that type of data ownership is a matter
of fact, allowing families to build their own memories, but leaving it
open for the state to tear them down if purposes suit and retained data
allows. In that respect I suspect there will be much debate in the
future about the accuracy of records when the state wishes to use an
official record about a deceased for its own purposes and that record
is contradicted by a long accepted digital record which has always been
available unchallenged in the public sphere. (Think of the debates
about official blocking and removal of web pages and similar issues –
who stands for the deceased then?)
This has gone somewhat off track
though; as the initial query was attempting to identify how privacy
perceptions may be changing within that part of the private/public
divide.
Ian W
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
All archives of messages are stored permanently and are
available to the world wide web community at large at
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/data-protection.html
If you wish to leave this list please send the command
leave data-protection to [log in to unmask]
All user commands can be found at http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/help/commandref.htm
Any queries about sending or receiving messages please send to the list owner
[log in to unmask]
Full help Desk - please email [log in to unmask] describing your needs
To receive these emails in HTML format send the command:
SET data-protection HTML to [log in to unmask]
(all commands go to [log in to unmask] not the list please)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
