[Mobile Cellphone Info] DATA AFTER DEATH ALL OF US HAVE BIG FOOTPRINT ON THE NET.BUT WHAT HAPPENS TO ONLINE ACCOUNTS AND CONENT WHEN ITS CREATOR DIES ?

Mobile Cellphone Info has posted a new item, 'DATA AFTER DEATH ALL OF US HAVE
BIG FOOTPRINT ON THE NET.BUT WHAT HAPPENS TO ONLINE ACCOUNTS AND CONENT WHEN ITS
CREATOR DIES ?'


DATA AFTER DEATHALL OF US HAVE BIG FOOTPRINT ON THE NET.BUT WHAT HAPPENS TO
ONLINE ACCOUNTS AND CONENT WHEN ITS CREATOR DIES ?by nandagopal rajan
Most of us now live two lives, one in our actual world and the other in the
virtual, When we die, our physical existence might come to an end, but the
virtual presence Lingers on. But what happens to all the content we have created
online, our online accounts, our virtual transactions? What happens to stuff we
have stored in the cloud and, unknowingly, in servers across the globe? While
most major corporates have privacv policies that explain how, and if, the
virtual accounts and content can he bequeathed to legal heirs (most digital data
will belong to the company), some individuals have alreadv started making
'digital wills.

Supreme Court lawyer and Coverall Asia President Pavan Duggal, who has helped
people make digital wills,says, Nornially, people who have digital assets or
confidential digital information, which they need to preserve and bequeath
beyond their lifetime, are those who go for this option.But the nuinhers are
still few as there is little awareness about the topic as well as a lack of
adequate laws.

"We do not have in place any law in India pertaining to digital legacies of
people," explains Dug gal. There is the information Technology Act, 2000, which
is applicable to all digital information, data and as sets. However, its
applicability is excluded to testamentary, disposition and wills.The law
pertaining to wills is governed by the Indian Succession Act. We require
specific laws in the country pertaining to digital legacies and bequeathing
their digital assets to the next of kin."

Online banking is an ether area where there is data left behind. The banks we
centacted did not have a specificanswer on what happens to online accounts once
the account holder is no more, The IncomeTax Department, however, is one up on
them.lt has put up a directive clarifying that the legal heir has te file the
return in case an assessee expires. The legal heir (LH) is required te make a
request hy sending a mail to.ask@cometaxindia.gov.in mentioning
the name, PAN, date of birth of deceased as well as that of the LH along with
scanned attachment of the death certificate of the deceased. On receipt of
above, LH would be en abled to file the return of deceasedusing LH`s DSC," says
the website. But what about all the online content we create, our blog
posts,pictures we post on Facebook and such stuff? Just like any other literary
content, after the author dies,the economic rights in the work concerned pass on
to the legal heirs for another 60 years following the calendaryear after the
authors death," says Lath:R. Nair, Partner at K&S Partners,Intellectual Property
Attorneys. Thelegal heirs of the content creator have the right to the work and
royalties, if any,After all, the Internet is just anothermedium for exploitation
of the rights to anycreative product.


BLOGS,PHOTOS,FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS
Like all creative products, literary writings, research notes, photographs, etc,
that arecreated online will pass on to the legal heir al the deceased. There is,
however, no specilic law in lnclia on this, but they are seen as intellectual
property and treated likewise.Similarly, legal heirs have the right to access
bank accounts and online records with, say,the Income Tax Department. Companies
will have first right to stall lying in officialemail services and servers.


FACEBOOK
When o user passes owoy, Focebook gives their friends and relativesthe option of
memoriolising their account to protect privocy.Memoriolising an account sets the
account privacv so that onlyconfirmed triends can see the prolile (Timeline) or
locute it in seurrh.Friends and family can leave posts in remembrance.
memorialising anaccount olso prevents anyone from logging into the account, says
theFocebook blog. Focebook does not divulge the login details of theaccount to
anyone, but verified immediate family members" canrequest the removal of any
Focebook occount if they do not want toget it memoriolised.


GOOGLE
Googlesays that in rare cases it may be able to provide the Gmailaccount content
to on authorised representative of the deceaseduser". Bot the post on Google
Support adds that "any decision toprovide the contents of a deceased users email
will be made onlyafter a carefal review, and the application ta obtain email
contentis a lengthy process. Before you begin, please understand thatGoogle may
be unable to provide the Gmail account content, andsending a request or filing
the required documentation does notguarantee that we will be able to assist
you." The same applies toall Google services.

YAHOO
Email accounts of Yohoo are outomaticallydeleted if it stays format lor over
fourmonths. Yahoo will also close the anccount ifa copy of the dealth
certificate is emailed tocc-advoc@yohoo-inc.rom.




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