Release of dead soldier's e-mail account to his parents in Michigan has sparked debate over personal data: Who owns your e-mail when you die?
In the recent Michigan case, a probate judge ordered Yahoo Inc. to give the family of a soldier killed in Iraq full access to their son's e-mail account. Attorney Brian Dailey, who represented the Ellsworth family, said there was no court battle with Yahoo and there was no controversy over privacy issues. "It took no convincing because Yahoo agreed," he said. He added that "[t]here's really no privacy debate over who owns e-mail. It's the same thing as a safe deposit box." The full story is available here.
