Action People Can Take To Manage Their Online Identity After Death

This article discusses the steps that people can take to manage their online accounts after they pass away. The laws that currently exist dealing with maintaining online accounts after death are not very clear. “The federal Stored Communications Act and Computer Fraud and Abuse Act prohibit access to digital assets without specific user authorization and make unauthorized access a federal criminal offense.” These laws dealt mainly with Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and don’t really do much to address issues with social media accounts on services like Facebook or Twitter. State laws can also vary and do not provide people with much guidance. It is important to make sure that your will explicitly specifies a fiduciary who will have access to the accounts. People should also review the terms of service on their social media accounts and speak with their estate planner about these issues.

See John Bonazzo, Do You Need to Control Your Online Identity After Your Death?, Observer, February 22, 2016.

Special thanks to Professor Naomi Cahn (Harold H. Greene Chair GWU Law School) for bringing this article to my attention.