Monthly Archives: September 2011

Facebook – Do you remain in cyberspace forever?

If a loved one has left his or her login information – user name and password – where you can find it, there’s no problem. All you have to do is the following:

1) Open the account that you want to delete.

2) Go to Account Settings.

3) Look for the Deactivate Account button at the bottom of the page.

4) Just click on it and the account is deactivated.

Another option is to memorialize the account. This means that certain sensitive information is removed from the account and privacy is set so only confirmed friends can see the profile or locate it in a search. The Wall remains so these friends and family can leave posts in remembrance. To memorialize an account, go to http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fhelp%2Fcontact.php%3Fshow_form%3Ddeceased&h=e5091bd54d848d4ca97832694b87dcd0. This will bring up a list of Facebook FAQs; one of them says “I’d like to report a deceased user or an account that needs to be memorialized.” Within that FAQ is a link to the correct form where you will need to enter the information requested.

Facebook says “that in order to protect the privacy of the deceased user, we cannot provide login information for the account to anyone.” They do claim to honor requests from close family members to close the account completely; however, we were unable to find any information on how to do so.

Perhaps the deceased’s account will remain in cyberspace forever!

If you’d like to learn more about digital assets, check out our book “Grave Robbers…How to prevent identity theft of the deceased.”

Google – What happens to your Gmail account when you die?

Google is one of the few ISPs that actually have a published policy on what to do to access a Gmail account when someone dies. http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=14300

Whoever is the lawful representative of the deceased or his or her estate can notify Google about the death via fax or US mail. The following information must be provided to them:

1) The representative’s full name and contact information, including a verifiable email address

2) The Gmail address of the deceased

3) The full header of an email sent from the Gmail account in question and received by the representative at his or her verifiable email address

4) The entire contents of the message attached to that header

5) Proof of death

6) A copy of the document giving the representative the authority to settle the deceased’s estate

There’s a catch. The representative must have received an email sent from the Gmail account.

Obviously, if a family member knows the deceased’s log in information – user name and password – he or she can just log in and cancel the account. There’s no need to go through the above process.

If no one knows the log in information and access to the account is desired or the legal representative has no email from the deceased’s Gmail account, this is what should be done.

The legal representative should send a letter listing the same information as indicated above and, in that letter, should request access. It may be provided although Google doesn’t specify the criteria under which that will happen. The only other way to gain the information is via a court order or other appropriate legal process. Google says it will work with families and lawyers of the deceased to grant access once they’ve verified those people’s right to take over the account.

If no one logs in to a Gmail account for six months, it’s considered dormant. If another three months pass (a total of nine months) without a log in Google may delete it. If access to the account is not needed, here’s the easiest thing to do – nothing!

To find out more about how to handle digital assets after someone dies, check out our book “Grave Robbers…How to Prevent Identity Theft of the Deceased”.

Comcast – Can a deceased’s email account be accessed?

According to a Comcast representative, anyone who knows the last 4 digits of the deceased’s Social Security number, their account number or the amount of their most recent payment can cancel a deceased’s account.

However, accessing that account will be more difficult. If you want access but do not know the password that was used by the deceased, you must go in person to a Comcast payment center. The representative with whom I spoke thought it would have to be a Comcast office in the area where the deceased lived. I pointed out that this is a bit ridiculous; for example, my father lived on the other side of the country. Did this policy mean that I would have to fly from California to New Jersey in order to find out what his password had been? I was told that the answer was “yes”. I would suggest that you go to the nearest payment center and try to get them to provide the needed information.

If the account is not cancelled Comcast will continue to bill the account holder indefinitely.

To learn more about how to handle someone’s online accounts after they die, as well as to identify things you should do to protect the identity of that person, check out the book “Grave Robbers…How to prevent identity theft of the deceased.”