Accessing Email & Social Networking Accounts After A Loved-One’s Death

What happens to an email or social networking account when the account owner dies?  Assuming the account owner did not otherwise provide for account information to be shared upon death, answers to this question are provided by an news.com.au article.

• Hotmail: Next of kin can access the email account by proving their identity and providing the account owner’s death certificate.  But, the next of kin should act quickly because an account inactive for 270 days will be deleted. 
• Gmail: Next of kin can access the email account by the same method as that for a Hotmail account, with the additional requirement of providing proof of email correspondence between the next of kin and the account owner.
• Yahoo: Next of kin is not allowed to access the email account of a deceased account owner unless the deceased account owner specifically stated otherwise in his or her will.
• Facebook: Accounts can be memorialized, as discussed in my prior post here.
• Myspace: Accounts are handled on a case-by-case basis.

Obviously, some of these answers may only be relevant if the popularity of a social networking website doesn’t die before the account owner.

See Andrew Ramadge, What happens to your email when you die?, news.com.AU, Nov. 4, 2009.