Delaware Enacts Law Allowing Heirs To Access Digital Assets of Deceased

An anonymous reader writes Ars reports: "Delaware has become the first state in the U.S .to enact a law that ensures families' rights to access the digital assets of loved ones during incapacitation or after death." In other states, the social media accounts and email of people who die also die with them since the companies hosting those accounts are not obligated to transfer access even to the heirs of the deceased. In Delaware, however, this is no longer the case. The article notes that even if the deceased was a resident of another state, if his/her will is governed by Delaware law, his/her heirs will be allowed to avail of the new law and gain access to all digital assets of the deceased.

Re:Or

[ruir]

There are too many implications. While I am trustworthy of my family, and my father could have robbed me blind and fuck up all my life, I know he would not do that. However, it is not the first and last case where some old people found a new love, and the family takes away all their assets. The ideal is to leave the password, or better yet, some means of changing it, in a sealed enveloped, together with your will. (better some means of changing it, because in the improbable case of foul play, you will know it). Nevertheless, the inheritance of accounts, specially of accounts that control movies or music go against the desire of the industry or selling, reselling and reselling again the same movies and musics to every citizen.

Re:Or

[Anonymous Coward]

... and the keys to your house, car, number of your credit cards and access to the storage-box at your bank.

Its not like you have anything to hide or that some heirs simply can't be trusted ...

Good for music, movies and ebooks

[Camembert]

I don't care much for the social media accounts, but it is good that bought ebooks, music and movies should be accessible to next of kin, just like their physical counterparts are.

Re:Good for music, movies and ebooks

[ruir]

The problem is that unless you have physical possession of the files in a non-gardenwalled environment, you probably do not own them, but you are just renting them.

My will reads

[Renozuken]

And to billy I leave my steam account which has a few good games and a couple hundred games I've never played...