Virtual Afterlives Vex Lawmakers (What happens to Facebook when you croak?)

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When people die, they leave all kinds of mementoes. For most of us, it's manageable, if not emotionally trying, to go through their photos, old letters and other possessions and decide what goes to charity, what gets inherited and what gets tossed.

These days, that process is complicated by the existence of Facebook and Google+ pages, which compile many possessions in a digital format. So far, laws cover how loved ones can manage the remaining physical objects left behind after a death. But what of the virtual ones?

Several states are trying to deal with that question now. Oklahoma was the first. That state's law allows friends and relatives -- and most importantly, the executor of an estate -- to get control of Facebook accounts (provided the deceased lived in the state). Nebraska is proposing a similar measure, and there is some preliminary work on it being done in Oregon. In New York there is a proposal to name a "digital executor" before you die.

I'll admit, this is a complication I never really considered.

In fact, I have friends who've lost loved ones...and have created Facebook pages AFTER THEY DIED as a memorial or tribute to the deceased. I've written messages on these pages, usually of the "I miss you, Wish you happy birthday, etc". Obviously, these pages are more for the family and friends and a way to keep the memory alive. I believe it can be therapuetic for some to have these memorial pages, but also potentially problematic.

I was surfing the web, just clicking different topics, and I wound up on a blog that had a photograph of a young girl who was quite obviously extremely dead. She'd died in a car crash, and the photo showed her in the crumpled car. She was unrecognizeable....except for the fact that some creep had posted her name and before/after pictures on the website. The parents were devastated, of course, but they had to endure these disturbing images.

What do you think, ATS?

Facebook could do like MySpace, they have mydeathspace.com
when you die, your page gets mov ed I believe.

reply to post by smyleegrl


Just wait about 15 years when they start uploading consciousness. Then our social website accounts will keep communicating with people after we are dead.

Originally posted by smyleegrl
Source

When people die, they leave all kinds of mementoes. For most of us, it's manageable, if not emotionally trying, to go through their photos, old letters and other possessions and decide what goes to charity, what gets inherited and what gets tossed.

These days, that process is complicated by the existence of Facebook and Google+ pages, which compile many possessions in a digital format. So far, laws cover how loved ones can manage the remaining physical objects left behind after a death. But what of the virtual ones?

Several states are trying to deal with that question now. Oklahoma was the first. That state's law allows friends and relatives -- and most importantly, the executor of an estate -- to get control of Facebook accounts (provided the deceased lived in the state). Nebraska is proposing a similar measure, and there is some preliminary work on it being done in Oregon. In New York there is a proposal to name a "digital executor" before you die.

I'll admit, this is a complication I never really considered.

In fact, I have friends who've lost loved ones...and have created Facebook pages AFTER THEY DIED as a memorial or tribute to the deceased. I've written messages on these pages, usually of the "I miss you, Wish you happy birthday, etc". Obviously, these pages are more for the family and friends and a way to keep the memory alive. I believe it can be therapuetic for some to have these memorial pages, but also potentially problematic.

I was surfing the web, just clicking different topics, and I wound up on a blog that had a photograph of a young girl who was quite obviously extremely dead. She'd died in a car crash, and the photo showed her in the crumpled car. She was unrecognizeable....except for the fact that some creep had posted her name and before/after pictures on the website. The parents were devastated, of course, but they had to endure these disturbing images.

What do you think, ATS?

Yes i know what your talking about i came across that years ago, i believe they called her porschegirl.
Very sad and disturbing indeed.