revolutionised

Click here to view original web page at Leaving a Digital Legacy is it possible?

The issue of what will happen to your digital assets on your death is fast becoming an emerging area of law.

One of the world’s largest online stores is recognisably Apple’s iTunes (other online stores are available). Quite simply, iTunes revolutionised the way in which we buy music, and more recently the way in which we buy films and digital books.

Buying the new album of your favourite artist used to involve making a specific trip into town to one of the, then, many music stores. The picture is very different today, whilst we are now very limited on choice of music stores on our high street, we can now purchase an entire album on our computer or smartphone within seconds.

iTunes purchases are typically stored in digital form on your registered device unless you decide to make a back up (highly recommended) in digital form or on a much more traditional form such as a CD. However, Apple has recently introduced the concept of the iCloud – a concept which could quite easily be considered as a hard drive in the sky – which automatically backs up (indefinitely!?) and syncs your iTunes purchases, photos, documents, contacts, calendar, apps¦¦.. the list goes on.

Whilst a persons digital presence is getting ever stronger, not forgetting online social networking such as Facebook, Twitter etc, which I do not propose to go into this time round, the question in law which is yet to be properly considered is what happens to online and digital content on the death of a user? Is it possible to pass such content in accordance with your Will?

Apple’s iTunes terms and conditions are notably silent on this issue, and possibly quite rightly so until the Courts make a ruling to give a precedent to the legal world. In fact, this month I was due to attend a training course on the subject of ‘digital legacies’. Unfortunately the course was cancelled by the provider as quite simply there is not yet sufficient guidance in statute or case law to make such a course worthwhile.

Questions for legal discussion and clarification (to name a few):

– What will happen to your digital music, films and books on your death? Can they pass in accordance with your Will?
– Is there any difference between digital content when compared with a traditional CD, DVD or paperback?
– Is there an issue in relation to the world of licensing? In purchasing online you are effectively purchasing a licence to play the relevant digital content. It should be remembered that the copyright will always remain with the creator (¦remember the Court battles between the record labels and the online file sharing program Napster!?)
– does such a licence pass in accordance with your Will on death, or does the licence simply expire?
– Can you give a value to your digital content and consider it an asset; after all you have paid for it?

Quite simply, until some clarity is given to this very much grey area of law we must all wait in anticipation¦¦¦¦

There might be little doubt that the web has revolutionised our each day lives, making issues like paying payments, purchasing, in addition to communications a lot simpler, and in lots of circumstances cheaper. This could be achieved with a easy click on of a button and all with out leaving the home. Yet, as many households of those that die are discovering, the web can even make issues harder.

Digital legacy

This is a comparatively new growth that has been created by the very issues that have been meant to – and certainly do – make our lives simpler. Many folks conduct all of their monetary affairs on-line, whether or not submitting their taxes, paying money owed or managing their accounts, and any standing orders or direct debits proceed to be paid till you’re taking steps to cease them. People are rightly informed by the completely different establishments and/or web sites with which they maintain accounts to not share delicate data similar to passwords and pin numbers with anybody else.

With this in thoughts, settling your affairs generally is a large drawback for your loved ones members after your dying, as a result of they’re unable to achieve entry to your accounts, and within the absence of paper documentation are unable to find out with whom these accounts are saved. Even issues like closing down electronic mail accounts or social media profiles can be tough within the absence of the right log-in data.

The web is nice, however not but that nice

As said in Saga Legal’s exhaustive Digital Legal Guide, the ‘web just isn’t but intuitive sufficient’ to grasp that somebody has died and lots of surviving relations and mates could have skilled a heartbreaking reminder of this as Facebook implores them to want the deceased a cheerful birthday. The identical is true for on-line procuring websites till they’re now not in a position to debit a checking account that has been frozen upon the supply of a loss of life certificates.

Solution

The aforementioned Saga Digital Legal Guide advises that it’s best to deal with your digital authorized in a lot the identical manner that it’s best to deal with your Will. Many don’t pay digital data with the identical heed due to the growing nature of the legal guidelines governing web utilization, however that is maybe an excellent better cause to make sure that your family members have entry, as it can overcome such authorized ambiguities.

This could be achieved by making a safe on-line listing, which provides particulars your whole lively web accounts together with how you would like for them to be handled.

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