What will happen to your social media accounts when you die? Who can access your accounts? Who has your passwords? Who has the legal right to contact social media platform providers and access your accounts? Will your Facebook page remain static forever; your last posts a cyber-memorial?
The control of your social spaces after death is one of the many issues presenting themselves as our real and cyber lives become ever more entwined. State legislatures are considering laws that address the above questions. In New York, legislators introduced a 2012 bill that provides for legislation that will allow individuals to grant a loved one or a family member the authority to terminate or control social media accounts and other messaging accounts following the individual's death. The Empire State was beaten to the punch by Oklahoma, where the state has already adopted a similar law providing that executors have the right to access a decedent's social media accounts in order to preserve or terminate the accounts.
While these laws are well-intended and certainly attempt to address a problem that promises to continually arise in the context of social media, there are several issues that come to mind when considering such legislation. First, how do these laws impact the terms and conditions established by social media platforms. For example, under Facebook's terms and conditions,users agree not to share their passwords, let anyone else access their accounts or transfer their accounts. These types of restrictions on ownership and control are nearly universal when one reviews the various social media sites. What would happen if a social media platform were to deny access to an appointed individual or executor?
Another issue that is sure to arise is the actual legality and effectiveness of a decedent's selection of their post-mortem social media pilot. What if the decedent designates an individual to perform this role who is not the executor of their estate? What powers will that designated person have? What if the family members of the deceased do not like the designated individual and the individual acts in ways contrary to the desire of such family members? One can only imagine the horror of the ongoing on-line presence of a deceased son or daughter, a presence that is beyond the control of grieving parents.
Other questions will undoubtedly involve how a designation must be made and who one designates. Does the designation have to be in one's will to be effective? If there is no specific designation, will the executor have the general power to administer the accounts? What about the case where one has purposely kept her social media world away from certain family members? How will those wishes be controlled from beyond the grave?
I am confident that the answers to all of these questions will be resolved over time. I am equally confident that some of those resolutions will be found in the machinations of the judicial system as opposing parties fight for real and supposed rights. In the meantime, this is a great example of how our on-line lives and our off-line lives are increasingly meshed together and the need for a well-thought out integration.