Another reason to avoid free email....

[Bob Hubbard]

Personally, while I understand the companies position, I think exceptions should be made in some cases, this being 1.

It's simple. Request comes in. Account is then 'frozen' while required proofs are gathered. Once everything is verified, it is unfrozen for 30 days to allow the family to gather the 'paper'.

All my emails are stored offline, going back to 1993 or 94. I don't trust webmail.

Dead Marine's kin plead for e-mail Tuesday, December 21, 2004 Posted: 11:01 AM EST (1601 GMT) WIXOM, Michigan (AP) -- The family of a Marine killed in Iraq is pleading with Internet giant Yahoo! for access to his e-mail account, which the company says is off-limits under its privacy policy.

Lance Cpl. Justin M. Ellsworth, 20, was killed by a roadside bomb on November 13 during a foot patrol in Al Anbar province. The family wants the complete e-mail file that Justin maintained, including notes to and from others.

"I want to be able to remember him in his words. I know he thought he was doing what he needed to do. I want to have that for the future," said John Ellsworth, Justin's father. "It's the last thing I have of my son."

But without the account's password, the request has been repeatedly denied. In addition, Yahoo! policy calls for erasing all accounts that are inactive for 90 days. Yahoo! also maintains that all users agree at sign-up that rights to a member's ID or contents within an account terminate upon death.

"While we sympathize with any grieving family, Yahoo! accounts and any contents therein are nontransferable" even after death, said Karen Mahon, a Yahoo! spokeswoman.

 

[OUMoose]

Personally, while I understand the companies position, I think exceptions should be made in some cases, this being 1.

It's simple. Request comes in. Account is then 'frozen' while required proofs are gathered. Once everything is verified, it is unfrozen for 30 days to allow the family to gather the 'paper'.

All my emails are stored offline, going back to 1993 or 94. I don't trust webmail.

Unfortunately that's not always an option. I have a few friends in the military, and they all use some sort of free mail system like yahoo or hotmail, since they can access it from just about anywhere, and it doesn't take up room on the system (since it's most likely public anyways).

I do agree though. If one could be a verified family member of the deceased, the account should be opened to them temporarily.

 

[Spud]

Technology keeps adding items that should be covered in wills. Disposal or archiving of e-mail should be covered when people do their wills.

I'd agree with Yahoo! on this one.

 

[MA-Caver]

Well one of the things that people need to keep foresight of is this. But how many of us even think about our e-mails and the stuff we sent. All the jokes, funny pictures and bla bla bla's that went on. Non-sensical ramblings of a bored mind.
There is a lot of stuff here and on other discussion groups, topics that I participated in that I wouldn't mind being preserved... but I'd have to do that myself. Either that or write down my screen-names and passwords so that family (and/or friends) can access it in case of my *ahem* untimely demise. :uhyeah:
Or go the long route and copy/paste it all on a clipboard or whatever word cruncher you got and burn it all on a CD.
Lots of ways to do it.

 

[Ping898]

You know, I agree with Yahoo on this one. There are many things in my e-mail I don't want my folks seeing, and that I have sent people that I don't want their parents seeing cause it is personal. Anyone who goes into the military knows death is a realistic option and if they really wanted their family to have e-mail they would keep a document somewhere with the passwords necessary to access the information.

 

[Nightingale]

If something happened to me, I wouldn't want my family reading my email. Some emails would create hurt feelings and I wouldn't be around to explain that I was just upset and didn't mean it. They don't need to read about me venting to friends, sometimes about them. Email is private. If I have something to say to my family, I say it. If I haven't said it, it's not their business.

We have no idea what that soldier was up to in his private life. What if he was into very heavy porno, or was cheating on his wife, or was writing love letters to multiple women (or men!) or something else that people choose to keep private? It could change the family's entire perception of their loved one. If the guy chose not to share, the family needs to respect that.

 

[Shidan]

You know, I agree with Yahoo on this one. There are many things in my e-mail I don't want my folks seeing, and that I have sent people that I don't want their parents seeing cause it is personal. Anyone who goes into the military knows death is a realistic option and if they really wanted their family to have e-mail they would keep a document somewhere with the passwords necessary to access the information.

I am for Yahoo on this one as well!

If the attorney's taking on this case win and force Yahoo to overturn it's policy, it will definately be a sad day for privacy.

Parents or not, I understand and sympathize their loss of a child fighting for his country - HOWEVER, if Yahoo coughs up the password or doesn't delete the account after 90 days - others will begin to insist upon this.