你的生活有两个方面。一个是你的物质^{(physical life)}生活——拥有房子、汽车、银行账户等资产。你在有生之年照顾这些财产，并立下遗嘱让人们知道如何处理你的物质资产。另一个方面是您的生活与您的计算机和互联网相关联^{(life associated with your computer and the Internet)}。您花费大量时间离线和在线创建音乐/图像/电影的集合。您使用Facebook、LinkedIn、Google Plus、  Twitter、Microsoft Account、Yahoo、MediaFire、PayPal和其他社交或在线帐户，并且您在这些帐户中存储了重要信息。

当你死后你的在线^(Online) 账户^(Accounts)会发生什么

有没有想过你死后所有这些在线数字资产会发生什么？

可能您的计算机和磁盘可能会被您的亲戚购买，但您在社交网站上发布的大量帖子又如何呢？您使用Hotmail^(Hotmail)、Gmail和其他服务提供商存储的电子邮件呢？您存储在Flickr^(Flickr)上的数千张图片会发生什么变化？也许您经营网站、博客或在线业务。在你死后，谁会欣赏你上传到其中一个云服务的电影……或者从这些在线资产中获得收益？

Facebook 与斯塔森

人们在准备遗嘱时甚至不会考虑他们的数字资产。他们往往会忘记他们死后永远丢弃在互联网上的数字资产。^(Internet)因此，没有任何规则或法律来指导基于互联网^(Internet)的公司在客户去世后如何处理其客户的数字数据。只有在某些案件出现在法庭上之后，不同的公司才会提出不同的解决方案。

^{(Benjamin Stassen)}海伦^(Helen)和杰伊·斯塔森^{(Jay Stassen)}21 岁的儿子本杰明·斯塔森 ( Benjamin Stassen ) 在没有留下字条的情况下自杀。当海伦^(Helen)和杰^(Jay)找不到任何本杰明^(Benjamin)采取极端措施的原因时，他们决定查看他的电子邮件和社交信息以了解原因。但这并不容易。Gmail和Facebook表示，他们担心本杰明^(Benjamin)的隐私，不会让父母访问他的账户。

这是一个有待商榷的问题。在实物资产的情况下，如果死者没有提供遗嘱，直系亲属有权管理死者的资产。^(kin)但对于数字资产——电子邮件和Facebook订阅源——没有法律。此外，这些公司还签订了有关保护用户隐私的合同。^(kin)

您认为他们在保护隐私和拒绝 Stassens 的要求方面是否正确？^{(Do you think they are correct in protecting privacy and denying the request of Stassens?)}毕竟，如果本杰明想与他的父母分享任何东西，他会在他还活着的时候让他们访问他的 Facebook 和 Gmail 帐户……^{( After all, if Benjamin wanted to share anything with his parents, he would have given them access to his Facebook and Gmail accounts while he was alive…)}

无论如何，斯塔森斯^(Stassens)去了法庭，得到命令要求Gmail和Facebook向他们提供访问本杰明账户的权限，以便他们可以调查导致他自杀的问题。虽然谷歌^(Google)有义务，但Facebook继续拒绝访问，称这是隐私问题，因此，它无法向Stassens提供访问本杰明账户的权限。Facebook是否会对该裁决提出上诉或接受裁决，还有待观察。

数字资产管理

诸如此类的案例，迫使人们思考自己的数字资产，以及在死亡的情况下如何处理。因此^{(Accordingly)}，一些基于 Internet 的公司提出了他们自己的一套规则，即一旦用户死亡，数据将如何处理。我们稍后会讨论这些规则。

为在线数字^{(Online Digital)}资产^(Assets)和账户创建单独的遗嘱^{(Separate Will)}

为避免混淆并将问题留给您的亲属，我能想到的最好方法是创建一份遗嘱，清楚地描述如何处理您的数字物品。您可能想指示谁获得您的音乐和电影收藏。将所有购买记录保存在一个地方是个好主意，这样人们就可以在您死后知道这些收藏品的确切价值。

同样，您可以指示您的博客是必须由其他人维护还是关闭。您可以指示谁可以访问您的Flickr帐户以及帐户中的所有图像。类似的说明适用于Internet 上的所有其他重要存在 -^{(Internet –)}电子邮件帐户、Twitter、Facebook、Google等。

由于您无法将这些资产转让给其他人，而无需向他们提供这些帐户的密码，因此建议您为您的数字资产创建单独的遗嘱，并为不同的资产及其密码设置不同的部分。这样，只有获得特定资产的人才能知道密码。^{(Since you cannot transfer these assets to others without giving them the passwords to these accounts, it is recommended that you create a separate will for your digital assets with different sections for different assets and their passwords. That way, only the people who get particular assets gets to know the passwords.)}

请注意，您的正常遗嘱在您死后即公开。不建议在普通遗嘱中包含密码，因为它会将您的密码泄露给所有可以访问遗嘱的人。这就是为什么我建议将单独的遗嘱委托给尊重您隐私的人。另外，请记住，您不必分享或放弃您拥有的一切。如果您收藏了色情片，您可能希望它不被注意，而不是把它送给您的孩子。

这只是我认为可行的建议^{(This is just a suggestion that I think will work out)}。请在下面的评论框中告诉我们您的想法^{(Please let us know your thoughts in the comment boxes below)}。

没有^(Absence)意志^(Will)的默认规则:你死后会发生什么

上一节讨论了如何处理您的数字资产。如果您花时间为数字资产创建遗嘱，这将为您的亲属节省很多精力。但是，人们可能无法决定将什么全部放弃以及将什么全部隐藏在Internet 上^(Internet)。如果您未能为您的数字资产创建遗嘱，会发生什么？如果您不向您的亲属提供访问权限（例如Twitter） ，会发生什么？^{(Twitter –)}让我们看看领先公司处理用户到期的政策。

领英

LinkedIn删除了死者的帐户，而没有将任何数据传输给与死者相关的任何人。这意味着您可以通知领^(LinkedIn)英其用户的死亡，但您不能要求他们向您提供死者领英帐户的详细信息。^(LinkedIn)您也不能要求他们将帐户转移给您。

LinkedIn 有一个需要填写的表格，要求关闭死者的帐户^{(form that needs to be filled for asking closure of account of the dead)}。其中，您必须填写死者的电子邮件地址，否则LinkedIn将不会处理帐户删除请求。填写表格后，您必须将其发送到表格中提到的地址。

在 LinkedIn 的情况下，您去世后发生的事情^{(What happens after your death in the case of LinkedIn)}是简单地关闭您的帐户——当您的任何亲属或朋友通知LinkedIn您的死亡时。没有人可以访问该帐户，LinkedIn也不会向任何人提供任何数据。

推特

在Twitter的情况下，当你通知他们某个用户的死亡时，他们会将用户的所有公开推文数字化，并在关闭帐户之前将其交给受益人。^{( digitize all the public tweets of the user and hand it over to the beneficiary)}

您需要将以下信息发送到 Twitter：

1. Twitter帐户的用户名（例如，@username 和 twitter.com/username）
2. 已故用户的死亡证明复印件
3. 您的政府签发的身份证件的副本（例如驾驶执照）
4. 一份经过公证的签名声明，包括：

• 你的名字和姓氏
• 您当前的联系信息
• 您的电子邮件地址
• 您与已故用户的关系
• 请求的操作（例如，“请停用Twitter帐户”）
• 在线讣告链接或当地报纸讣告副本（可选）

您需要将以上资料传真或邮寄至以下地址：

Twitter, Inc.
c/o: Trust & Safety
795 Folsom Street, Suite 600
San Francisco, CA 94107
Fax : 1-415-222-9958”

在Twitter的情况下，他们不会将帐户转让给任何人。他们只是交出死者的公开推文，然后关闭相关账户。

Facebook

在Facebook的情况下，它既不会关闭死者的账户，也不会将账户转移给他/她的亲属。它“纪念”该帐户，以便死者当前的Facebook朋友可以随时查看该帐户。朋友可以使用自己的ID^(IDs)登录以发布讣告和其他类型的消息。

您可以使用此表格通知Facebook其用户的死亡，并提交一份纪念请求^{(Memorialization Request)}。与LinkedIn一样，您需要知道已故用户的Facebook个人资料URL和电子邮件 ID，然后他们才能“记住”该帐户。要报告要纪念的个人资料，请在facebook.com上提出请求。

Facebook Legacy功能可让您选择继承人。

谷歌帐户

他们的政策不是很明确。我了解到他们可能会或可能不会向亲属提供访问死者电子邮件的权限。您可以通过与他们联系并提供以下信息来启动该过程：

1. 您的电子邮件 ID
2. 你的驾照
3. 你的地址
4. 死者的电子邮件 ID 显示一个或多个电子邮件标头
5. 死者的死亡证明复印件。

您必须将信息发送到以下地址：

Google Inc.
Gmail User Support – Decedents’ Accounts
c/o Google Custodian of Records
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
Fax: 650-644-0358.

但是，这并不能保证他们会为受益人提供访问死者电子邮件的权限。更多细节可以在Google获得。您还可以阅读有关Google Inactive Account Manager的信息。

微软帐户

^(Microsoft)如果Hotmail^(Hotmail)帐户超过 270 天未被访问，Microsoft将删除该帐户。如果您想访问已故亲属的Hotmail帐户，您必须联系Hotmail。Microsoft将在六个月后授予您访问权限。您可能需要提供以下文件。

1. 用户死亡证明复印件
2. 证明您是恩人或死者遗产或您有授权书
3. 实际邮寄地址
4. 您的驾驶执照的身份证明或复印件
5. 包含以下详细信息的文档：

• 帐户名称
• 帐户的名字和姓氏
• 出生日期
• 城市、州和邮政编码
• ^{(Approximate)}创建帐户的大致日期
• 大约上次登录日期，

所有文件应传真至 425-708-0096 或通过电子邮件发送至[email protected]或通过电子邮件发送至以下地址

Microsoft Corp – Online Services Custodian Records
1065 La Avenida, Building 4
Mountain View CA 94043.

更多细节可以在Microsoft获得。

这些公司在访问死用户的数据时有一套特定的规则。请注意，在某些情况下，这些规则可能会被法院的有利于死者亲属的裁决推翻。^{(Note that these rules may be overridden by court’s ruling in favor of the deceased’s kin in certain cases.)}

其他互联网公司

虽然上述公司已制定政策来照顾不复存在的用户，但互联网^(Internet)上还有许多其他公司尚未制定此类政策。此类公司的名单包括主要的照片共享站点、云存储站点、音乐共享站点等。

到目前为止，我能看到的唯一出路是这些公司等待相当长的时间，如果没有登录，他们就会禁用该帐户。

例如，如果四个月没有活动，Free Yahoo Mail会禁用该帐户。^{(Yahoo Mail)}

同样，如果Free ^(Free) MediaFire（文件共享站点）在一段合理的时间内没有活动，并且他们需要其他用户的空间，他们会继续停用非活动用户的帐户。这意味着，虽然一些数字资产会因长期不活动而关闭账户而丢失，但其他一些资产将永远处于活动状态，但没有任何看护人。

^(PayPal)例如，只要您有余额，PayPal就会保留该帐户。因此，公司和死者的亲属都不能在没有适当意愿的情况下使用这些数字资产。

如果您转移 ID 和密码，其他人可以使用您的数字资产。在没有遗嘱转让的情况下，如果公司被告知您的死亡，您的亲属将无法访问您的帐户。如果您希望将您一生中收集的信息和其他类型的数字资产传递给您，最好的方法是创建单独的遗嘱并将您的帐户转移给您的亲属^{(create a separate will and transfer your accounts to your kin)}。换句话说，你死后发生的事情是你用遗嘱决定的。

在线业务和网站

如果您经营一个赚钱的网站、博客或电子商务网站^{(website, blog or a e-commerce site)}，最好将其所有详细信息放入遗嘱^(Will)中，包括URL^(URLs)、登录凭据、银行帐户详细信息等。这样你的配偶就会知道你死后该怎么做。

但话又说回来，这正是我的想法。让我们知道在您死后传递数字资产的最佳方式是什么。^{(But then again, this is just what I think. Let us know what is the best way to pass on the digital assets after your death.)}

毕竟……总有一天我们都会死去…… ^{(After all … we are all going to die someday… )}

What happens to your Online Accounts when you die: Digital Assets Management

There are two aspects of yoυr life. One іs the physical life that you are living – with assets such as a house, car, bank accounts, etc. You take care of these belongings in your lifetime and create a will to let people know what to do with your physical assets. The other aspect is your life associated with your computer and the Internet. You spend considerable time creating a collection of music/images/movies offline and online. You use Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Plus, Twitter, Microsoft Account, Yahoo, MediaFire, PayPal and other social or online accounts and you have important information stored in these accounts.

What happens to your Online Accounts when you die

Ever wondered what happens to all these online digital assets after your death?

Probably your computer and disks might be acquired by your kin but what about the numerous posts you made on the social networking sites? What about the emails you stored with Hotmail, Gmail, and other service providers? What happens to the thousands of images you have stored on Flickr? Maybe you run a website or a blog or an online business. After your death, who is going to enjoy the movies you have uploaded to one of the cloud services…or take the earnings from these online assets?

Facebook vs. Stassen

People do not even think about their digital assets while preparing their will. More than often, they forget about their digital assets that are forever left discarded on the Internet after they die. As such, there are no rules or laws to direct Internet-based companies about what to do with the digital data of their clients when they die. It was only after certain cases came up in the courts of law that different companies came up with different solutions.

Benjamin Stassen, the 21-year-old son of Helen and Jay Stassen, committed suicide without leaving a note. When Helen and Jay could not find any cause why Benjamin took the extreme step, they decided to check out his emails and social feeds to know the reason. But this was not easy. Gmail and Facebook said they were concerned about Benjamin’s privacy and would not give the parents’, access to his account.

This is an issue for debate. In the case of physical assets, the immediate kin gets authority over the assets of the deceased in case the latter does not provide a will. But in the case of digital assets – email and Facebook feeds – there are no laws. Furthermore, these companies have contracts talking about protecting the privacy of users.

Do you think they are correct in protecting privacy and denying the request of Stassens? After all, if Benjamin wanted to share anything with his parents, he would have given them access to his Facebook and Gmail accounts while he was alive…

Anyway, Stassens went to the court of law and got orders asking Gmail and Facebook to provide them with access to Benjamin’s accounts so that they can look into the issues that drove him to commit suicide. While Google obliged, Facebook continued to deny access saying it was a matter of privacy and hence, it cannot provide the Stassens, access to Benjamin’s account. It remains to be seen if Facebook appeals against the ruling or accepts it.

Digital Assets Management

Cases such as the above have forced people to think about their digital assets and how to deal with them in the case of death. Accordingly, some of the Internet-based companies came up with their own set of rules as to what will happen to the data once the user is dead. We will talk about these rules in a while.

Create A Separate Will For Online Digital Assets and Accounts

To avoid confusion and to save problems to your kin, the best method I can see is to create a will that describes clearly as what to do with your digital belongings. You might want to instruct who gets your music and movie collections. It is a good idea to keep all the records of purchases at one place so that people can know the exact value of these collections after your death.

In the same way, you instruct whether your blog has to be maintained by anyone else or is it to be closed. You can instruct who gets access to your Flickr account and all the images in the account. Similar instructions go for all other important presence on the Internet – email accounts, Twitter, Facebook, Google, etc.

Since you cannot transfer these assets to others without giving them the passwords to these accounts, it is recommended that you create a separate will for your digital assets with different sections for different assets and their passwords. That way, only the people who get particular assets gets to know the passwords.

Note that your normal will is made public the moment you die. It is not advised to include passwords in the normal will as it will give away your passwords to everyone who can access the will. That is why I recommend a separate will entrusted to someone who respects your privacy. Also, remember that you do not have to share or give away everything you own. If you have a collection of porn, you may want it to go unnoticed rather than giving it away to your kids.

This is just a suggestion that I think will work out. Please let us know your thoughts in the comment boxes below.

Default Rules In Absence Of Will: What Happens After Your Die

The above section talked about how to deal with your digital assets. If you take the time to create a will for digital assets, it will save much effort on the part of your kin. But it may not be possible for people to decide what all to give away and what all to keep buried on the Internet. What happens if you fail to create a will for your digital assets? What happens when you do not provide access to – say Twitter – to your kin? Let us see the policies – of leading companies – dealing with the expiry of their users.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn removes the account of deceased without transferring any data to anyone related to the dead. This means you can inform LinkedIn about the death of its user, but you cannot ask them to provide you with details of the LinkedIn account of the dead. Neither can you ask them to transfer the account to you.

LinkedIn has a form that needs to be filled for asking closure of account of the dead. Among the details, you have to fill in is the email address of the deceased without which, LinkedIn will not process the account removal request. Once you fill up the form, you have to send it to the address mentioned in the form.

What happens after your death in the case of LinkedIn is the simple closure of your account – when any of your kin or friends informs LinkedIn about your demise. No one gets to access the account, and LinkedIn won’t provide any data to anyone.

Twitter

In the case of Twitter, when you inform them about the demise of a user, they will digitize all the public tweets of the user and hand it over to the beneficiary before closing the account.

You need to send the following information to Twitter:

1. The Twitter account’s username (e.g., @username and twitter.com/username)
2. A copy of the deceased user’s death certificate
3. A copy of your government-issued ID (e.g., driver’s license)
4. A signed, notarized statement including:

• Your first and last name
• Your current contact information
• Your email address
• Your relationship to the deceased user
• Action requested (e.g., ‘please deactivate the Twitter account’)
• A link to an online obituary or a copy of the obituary from a local newspaper (optional)

You need to send the above information by fax or mail to the following address:

Twitter, Inc.
c/o: Trust & Safety
795 Folsom Street, Suite 600
San Francisco, CA 94107
Fax : 1-415-222-9958”

In the case of Twitter, they do not transfer the account to anyone. They just hand over the public tweets of the deceased and then close the related account.

Facebook

In the case of Facebook, it neither closes the account of the deceased nor transfers the account to his/her kin. It “memorializes” the account so that it can be viewed anytime by the current Facebook friends of the deceased. Friends may log in using their own IDs to post obituaries and other types of messages.

You can inform Facebook about the demise of their user using this form and put in a Memorialization Request. Like with LinkedIn, you need to know the Facebook profile URL and email ID of the dead user before they can “memorialize” the account. To report a profile to be memorialized, put in a request here at facebook.com.

The Facebook Legacy feature lets you Choose an Heir.

Google Account

Their policy is not very clear. I learned that they may or may not provide the kin with access to the deceased’s emails. You can initiate the process by contacting them with the following information:

1. Your email ID
2. Your driver’s license
3. Your address
4. Deceased’s email ID with one or more email headers showing up
5. A copy of death certificate of the deceased.

You have to send the information to the following address:

Google Inc.
Gmail User Support – Decedents’ Accounts
c/o Google Custodian of Records
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
Fax: 650-644-0358.

This, however, does not guarantee that they will provide the beneficiary with access to deceased’s emails. More details can be had at Google. You can also read about the Google Inactive Account Manager.

Microsoft Account

Microsoft will delete a Hotmail account if it has been un-accessed for over 270 days. If you wish to access the Hotmail account of your deceased relative, you have to contact Hotmail. Microsoft will give you access after six months. You may be required to furnish the following documents.

1. Copy of the death certificate of the user
2. Proof that you are the benefactor or the deceased estate or that you have the power of attorney
3. Physical mailing address
4. Identification or copy of your driver’s license
5. A document with the following details:

• Account name
• First and the last name of the account
• Date of the birth
• city, state and zip code
• Approximate date of account creation
• Approximate last sign in date,

All the documents should be faxed to 425-708-0096 or emailed to [email protected] or sent via email to the following address

Microsoft Corp – Online Services Custodian Records
1065 La Avenida, Building 4
Mountain View CA 94043.

More details can be had at Microsoft.

These are some companies that have a certain set of rules when it comes to accessing data of dead users. Note that these rules may be overridden by court’s ruling in favor of the deceased’s kin in certain cases.

Other Internet-Based Companies

While the above companies have formed policies to take care of users who cease to exist, there are many other companies on the Internet that are yet to make such policies. The list of such companies includes major photo sharing sites, cloud storage sites, music sharing sites and more.

As of now, the only way out I can see is that these companies wait for a considerable period of time and if there is no login, they disable the account.

For example, Free Yahoo Mail disables the account if there is no activity for four months.

Similarly, if there is no activity at Free MediaFire (file-sharing site) for a reasonable period of time and they need space for other users, they go ahead to deactivate the inactive users’ accounts. This means that while some of the digital assets will be lost due to the closure of accounts due to long periods of inactivity, some other assets are left active forever but without any caretakers.

PayPal, for instance, will keep the account as long as you have balance in it. Thus, neither the company nor the kin of the deceased can make use of these digital assets in the absence of a proper will.

If you transfer the ID and password, others can make use of your digital assets. In the absence of the transfer by will, if a company is notified of your death, your kin won’t be able to access your account. If you wish to pass on the information and other types of digital assets you collected during your lifetime, the best method is to create a separate will and transfer your accounts to your kin. In other words, what happens after your death is what you decide using the will.

Online Business & websites

If you run a good earning website, blog or a e-commerce site, it might be a good idea to put ALL its details in the Will, including the URLs, login credentials, bank account details and so on. This way your spouse will know what to do when you die.

But then again, this is just what I think. Let us know what is the best way to pass on the digital assets after your death.

After all … we are all going to die someday… 

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