This article discusses the case of the late bestselling novelist Marsha Mehran and her father’s battle with tech companies for her digital account records. In the Mehran case the father sued Google for access to his daughter’s Google Drive account. The fight over access to a decedents digital accounts is currently pitting large tech companies against estate attorneys. Large tech companies like Facebook, Yahoo, and Google claim that they are trying to protect their user’s privacy when they lobby against legislation that would provide loved ones with increased access to a decedents digital records. In California there is a piece of legislation supported by tech companies that would deny loved ones access to emails or other digital records unless the decedent gave express consent for the release of those documents.
See Matt O’Brien, Behind-the-Scenes Battle: Who Owns Your Digital Afterlife?, Sci-Tech Today, September 7, 2015.
