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Complying with a court order, Yahoo agreed
to give the family of a U.S. Marine killed
in Iraq access to the soldier's e-mail.
On Wednesday, an Oakland County probate
court in Michigan ordered Yahoo to give
the contents of the e-mail account to the
father of Justin Ellsworth, 20, who was
killed in November by a roadside bomb in
Fallujah.
Yahoo complied with the mandate Thursday,
despite the company's policy of not giving
e-mail passwords to anyone other than the
account holder.
"We are pleased the court resolved
this matter," said Yahoo spokeswoman
Mary Osako.
The case highlights uncertainty about the
privacy of people's digital life in the
event of their death, and about the responsibilities
Internet service providers have toward family
members.
Experts say there has yet to be a definitive
court ruling on the status of e-mail as
to whether it is an extension of the deceased's
estate at the time of his or her passing.
But, they say, it would stand to reason
that e-mail account information and the
data within the account would be treated
equally to other possessions.
"If an ISP's terms of service run contrary
to what would seem to be a reasonable holding
by a probate court, then you would need
to have a hearing to find which position
would win out--whether the public interest
is better served by releasing personal data
or by upholding a privacy holding in an
ISP's terms of service," said Ray Everett-Church,
principal for privacy consultancy PrivacyClue.
Still, privacy experts say ISPs are within
their rights to ask the courts to make such
a ruling. "If it turned out some shenanigans
were going on, Yahoo would be in breach
of its own privacy policy," Everett-Church
said.
Some e-mail providers, such as America Online,
allow next-of-kin to access e-mail accounts
of the deceased by submitting documents
proving the relationship and by faxing a
copy of the death certificate. AOL does
not require loved ones to go through the
courts.
Yahoo's terms of service prohibit the company
from disclosing private e-mail communications.
Yahoo will turn over an account to family
members only after they go through the courts
to verify their identity and relationship
to the deceased.
Despite its compliance in the case, Yahoo
said it will not reverse its company policy,
choosing instead to honor the privacy of
account holders.
Yahoo delivered to Ellsworth's father, John
Ellsworth, a CD of his e-mail documents,
according to a spokeswoman. The company
also plans to provide him with printouts
of the communications early next week.
John Ellsworth could not be reached for
comment Thursday. But in an interview with
Detroit radio station WJR, he credited Yahoo
for acting quickly and responsibly once
the legal issues were settled, including
helping him decrypt the information on the
CD.
"I do appreciate Yahoo's take on this,
and I'm glad we were able to come to an
agreement," he said.