Oklahoma recently passed House Bill 2800, a law giving executors or administrators the power to access, administer, or terminate the deceased’s online social media accounts. The law, which is the first of its kind in the United States, assumes that a Facebook account or other online account is the property of its creator. Former state Representative Ryan Kiesel, who co-authored the bill, acknowledges that this law conflicts with most service agreements, but that the law is intended to force people to consider what they leave behind on Facebook and other online accounts.
See New Oklahoma Law Puts Control of Deceased’s Social Media Accounts in Estate Executors, International Business Times, Dec. 2, 2010.
Special thanks to Jesse Davis (Co-founder of Entrustet.com) for bringing this to my attention.
