New social media law releases details of deceased

SPRINGFIELD, Illinois: When a loved one dies, laws cover how their property is passed on to relatives.

But the rules are murkier and currently far more restrictive when it comes to pictures on Facebook, e-mails and even financial records stored in online cloud accounts.

Google, Facebook and other companies have said a federal privacy law approved decades before digital storage became common prevents them from releasing electronic memories or records unless the account owner grants permission – even if the person is dead.

This year, Illinois was one of 19 states that passed similar laws to clarify what internet companies can release after someone dies and when information should remain inaccessible.

“I post quite a bit on Facebook. I post a lot of photos. If something were to happen to me, maybe my wife would like to have access to those photos,” said Emanuel Chris Welch, a state legislator from suburban Chicago, who sponsored Illinois’ measure on the topic.

With the new laws, unless a person expresses otherwise, companies will release basic information from a user, such as the person’s e-mail contact list, to help find friends or gather an inventory of a person’s assets.

The Chicago-based Uniform Law Commission wrote the legislation states are passing with the support of internet firms, but that wasn’t always the case. Initially, the commission wanted administrators of a person’s estate to have access to everything from users’ accounts in cases where someone did not leave instruction.

Carl Szabo, senior policy counsel at NetChoice, an industry group that represents the interests of companies such as Facebook, Google and PayPal, said the revised legislation “balances the needs of the bereaved with the privacy interests of the account holders and the people with whom they corresponded”.

Even with the new laws, planning is necessary when many still don’t think about the contents of their internet accounts as property. – AP