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What Happens To Our Facebook Accounts When We Die?: Probate Versus Policy And The Fate Of Social-Media Assets Postmortem, Kristina Sherry
What Happens To Our Facebook Accounts When We Die?: Probate Versus Policy And The Fate Of Social-Media Assets Postmortem, Kristina Sherry
Pepperdine Law Review
More than 580,000 Facebook users in the U.S. will die this year, raising numerous legal questions as to the disposition of their Facebook pages and similar “digital assets” left in a state of legal limbo. While access to and ownership of decedents’ email accounts has been philosophized for nearly a decade, this Comment focuses on the additional legal uncertainties posed by “digital death” in the more amorphous realm of “social media.” Part II explores the implications of digital death by conceptualizing digital assets and surveying the underlying legal principles of contractual policies, probate, property, and privacy concerns. Part III surveys …