Bill: families should have access to social media of deceased
Jeremy Roebuck and Bonnie Cook share the stories behind their Montco beat.
Bill: families should have access to social media of deceased
Here’s something we never considered: what happens if a family member dies, and a relative must gain access of his or social media accounts to close them?
State Rep. Tim Briggs, D-Montgomery, is introducing legislation that would let the personal representatives of deceased relatives shut down their social media accounts.
Pennsylvania law grants the representatives the right to access and acquire personal and real property of a decedent, but does not give them the right to gain access to online accounts, in many cases to deactivate the accounts.
"While the number of online social media accounts multiplies, there is also growth in the amount of inactive accounts, some attributable to the death of account holders,” Briggs said.
"We should modernize our law by ensuring that authorized personal representatives have the right to access and manage social media networking accounts, and to make a final determination regarding whether to limit content that is included in an existing online profile or to ultimately deactivate the account."
Briggs said most social networking sites have a process by which family or personal representatives can petition to have the account locked or deactivated. However, much proof and paperwork are required; in some cases, access to the account is still denied.
"There are many things a personal representative must deal with when a friend or family member dies," Briggs said. “The last thing they need is to have to jump through hoops in order to close or alter an account that may be a painful reminder, or could be subject to identity thieves. My legislation is meant to ease their burden."
Briggs said New Jersey and Nebraska are considering similar bills.
According to information from the Pew Research Center, 66 percent of online adults were using social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter as of February 2012. In addition, the percentage of online adults that use social networking sites on an average day has grown from 27 percent in 2009, to 48 percent in 2012.
Briggs’ legislation is expected to be sent to the House Judiciary Committee for review.
They should mandate that the last post be "th-th-th...that's all folks..."— 2ndNlong- Instead of granting family members unfettered access to the contents of social web of the decedent, best to allow executor of estate to do online request to social website asking for account to be deactivated. Once done, this will not totally erase contents of social web account of decedent as its contents will stay on forever.— Aces high
- Instead of granting family members unfettered access to the contents of social web of the decedent, best to allow executor of estate to do online request to social website asking for account to be deactivated. Once done, this will not totally erase contents of social web account of decedent as its contents will stay on forever.— Aces high
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Contact Parks at 610-313-8117, jparks@philly.com, or https://twitter.com/JS_Parks.
