Yahoo Vs. Dead Marine's family
 

What do you think? I think Yahoo should get off the email account if they can verify.



WIXOM, Michigan (AP) -- The family of a Marine killed in Iraq is pleading with Internet giant Yahoo! for access to his e-mail account, which the company says is off-limits under its privacy policy.

Lance Cpl. Justin M. Ellsworth, 20, was killed by a roadside bomb on November 13 during a foot patrol in Al Anbar province. The family wants the complete e-mail file that Justin maintained, including notes to and from others.

"I want to be able to remember him in his words. I know he thought he was doing what he needed to do. I want to have that for the future," said John Ellsworth, Justin's father. "It's the last thing I have of my son."

But without the account's password, the request has been repeatedly denied. In addition, Yahoo! policy calls for erasing all accounts that are inactive for 90 days. Yahoo! also maintains that all users agree at sign-up that rights to a member's ID or contents within an account terminate upon death.

"While we sympathize with any grieving family, Yahoo! accounts and any contents therein are nontransferable" even after death, said Karen Mahon, a Yahoo! spokeswoman.

Tragic as it is I've gotta side with Yahoo on this one. The guy knew he was in harm's way. If I were in Iraq I would have covered a lot of "what if's" with my family, including leaving an envelope of things I'd want them to have should something happen to me (bank account numbers, etc.).

What if there weren't any messages in there that gave the family comfort? What if it was only messages about something that would harm their memory of him?

They are contactint the wrong people..

They should send me his username and i could give them access

Wouldn't a POA take care of this?

:)

indeed. Perhaps you should contact them Smokey. Offer up those skills.


http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3914148


I'm sure you could track down the father.

Sorry, Laws are Laws, they should bve respected.

If I'm not mistaken, Yahoo does not save Sent mail by default, you have to turn that on in Options. Most people probably don't do that (or even notice the option) so it's likely only mail to him in there anyway.

Hey Smokey, you've got till Feb 13th if you want to track 'em down:)

Fuck Yahoo.

yahoo is right. People die everyday just because he is a marine he is supposed to be treated different from somebody who dies in a car crash? And i wouldnt want my parents reading all my emails if i died.

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

i'd side with Y!

No if Y! went lenient here it would open doors for the future and no one would use them

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh I am sure you could . . . you should contact them and offer your services

So if you died would you want your ISP to turn over to your family all of your e-mails...including all of your adult related ones?

mardigras does make a good point. What if the guy was a closet freak or something? He probably wouldn't want his family reading all of his love letters between him and Juicy.

Gotta side with Yahoo here too. rules are rules

I would like for the family to be able too have the stuff...No harm could come from it...

Damn I better go delete all my Yahoo mail incase I diee and my family does the same thing! Yahoo is correct in their actions it was his email.

Policy is policy.

I'm with Yahoo.

I always make a good point:winkwink:

I was wondering how many years before something like this would come up about internet records, the familys should have access to dead peoples files where ever they're stored on the net, that is if they know they're there.

He died in the line of duty defending his country. Now the yahoo thing notwithstanding, that is COMPLETELY different from someone dying in a car crash.

You mean to tell us you don't see that?

I agree with Yahoo its very sad but they have to protect privacy.

So, you die a hero saving a child from a burning building. That's a similar noble death... Cool to turn your accounts (including webmaster:)) over to mom and dad then?

Thats fucked up. Yahoo should give up the emails to the family

Even though it sucks I'll have to agree with Yahoo.

im sure a probate lawyer could argue a good case.
all possesions are conveyed to the next of kin.

that goes for bank accounts, safe deposit boxes and such

that is all good until they find the emails he traded with an online cyber lover or memberships to one of our sites and then they will wish they never looked

yes

Didn't his family think for a second that maybe there's something in there he wouldn't want them to see?

If I died and my friends and family saw my email.... Chances are no one would bother to come to my funeral.

That's exactly what I meant earlier...only blunter:)

Even if you're 18 years old, if there's something you want known/done/or given to someone should something happen to you, take care of it now. Nobody has a guarantee of making it until the end of the day.:2 cents:

No - policy is policy..shit happens i mean if i die, i would want my privacy there

Yahoo shouldn't give up the information to the family! It's privacy policy. Can't just give that information away. If he wanted to have his family read it - he would've left the information for them!

I feel bad for the family - but that's Y! policy.

jDoG

bottom line...if you want your family to be able to access your mail and stuff after your death keep your passwords somewhere they will find them.

Seriously, one of the best things for me was that Marc had recently printed out all his passowords from roboform. You have no idea how much easier that has made for me being able to cancel memberships to things he was paying for and getting into accounts where bill emails were going to.

hell no they shouldn't... if he wanted his parents to read about his life he would have given them the password... obviously he doesn't want them to see it... duh

i'm with Yahoo! on this one

I'm sympathetic for the family, but I'd back Yahoo's position, since they specifically addressed this in their terms of service. It would be nice of Yahoo to offer a checkbox option (off by default) to release account info to someone who has legal power of attorney for the account owner. (E.g. if you pass away, or are in a coma). On the other hand, they're a business, and this wouldn't be a profitable policy...verifying POA requests would take time, and if they screwed up they could be sued.

right on!