What Happens to your Web-based Email After You Die?

Ryanne Lai "What Happens to Your Web-based Email After You Die?" 21 st June 200 5

Have you ever wondered…
Letters: your property
After you die,
they form part of
your estate
even if you put them in
a safe deposit box
Who owns your emails
when you die?

The Case of Justin Ellsworth: Background
Justin Ellsworth
20 year-old marine
killed in Iraq in Nov. 2004
Ellsworth's parents requested from Yahoo! the password of their son’s email account
Yahoo! refused

The Case of Justin Ellsworth: Background
Yahoo!’s Terms of Service:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

The Case of Justin Ellsworth: Background (ii) the property right to the electronic documents (the soft copies)
the intellectual property right
(i.e. copyright)
to the content of the account
(i) the right to access and use the email account

Who Owns What?
Terms of Service: a binding contract
account is non-transferable
(i) the right to access and use the email account
safe deposit boxes:
survivors get the right to the
contents of the safe deposit boxes,
not the right to access and use
the safe deposit boxes.

Who Owns What? (ii) the property right to the electronic documents (the soft copies) “ personal chattels”: Intestates' Estates Ordinance (Cap. 73) ownership of electronic information ownership of the storage medium

Who Owns What? (ii) the property right to the electronic documents (the soft copies)
Emails: a kind of personal property?
Two main components:
1. contents
2. source codes
Justin’s emails Yahoo!’s servers

Who Owns What?
“ literary work”: s. 4, Copyright Ordinance (Cap. 528)
the intellectual property right (i.e. copyright) to the content of the account
Terms of Service: Yahoo! does not claim ownership of content submitted by the user

Who Owns What?
the intellectual property right (i.e. copyright) to the content of the account
Limitations:
Cannot demand copies of emails
unless Yahoo! “knows or has reason to believe” that the emails have been or are to be used to make infringing copies: s. 109 , Copyright Ordinance
Confined to emails composed by Justin

The Privacy Problem
Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (Cap. 486)
Only applies to “personal data”
and to data user that controls the collection,
holding, processing or use of personal data.
Common Law:
no such protection either

Outcome of the Ellsworth Case
In the matter of Justin M.
Ellsworth, Deceased,
No. 2005-296,651-DE
(Oakland Co., Mich., Prob. Ct.)
Yahoo! was ordered
to provide the family of
Justin Ellsworth with
soft copies of all email
sent to and from his
email account
Question of public interest?

Steps to Take to Avoid Litigation
For service providers:
Let subscribers
indicate their
preference when
they sign up
for the service

Steps to Take to Avoid Litigation
For end users:
Write a letter
to your executor
Set up a trust
Put list of passwords in safe deposit box
Specify in the will
the person you
want your email ownership to be transferred to
Entrust passwords to
people you trust

Conclusion
Web service providers
now offer more storage
capacity
What have your clients been asking you to do? What have you decided to do? ? ? ? A need to clarify the law in this area

The End
Thank you!

http://www.biolawcom.de	77
http://www.pimpyourwork.com	75
http://thereasoner.com	49
http://www.slideshare.net	19
http://blog.techno.taladnam.com	11
http://biolawcom.de	9
http://moui.net	3
http://sidekick.myblog.hk	3
http://s3.amazonaws.com	2
http://72.14.235.104	1
http://www.moui.net	1
http://www.bizzia.com	1

What Happens to your Web-based Email After You Die?

by laihiu on Apr 06, 2007

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