On #death, #data, and digital secrets.

I shared some views with Osmond Chia of The Straits Times on the thorny issue of whether a deceased person's loved ones should be granted access to the deceased's #socialmedia accounts.

"Rajah and Tann partner Khelvin Xu, who handles digital disputes, said that social media firms are justified in being cautious about handing a dead user’s account or data to others. “What if the deceased had an expectation of #privacy, and wanted access to their accounts to ‘die’ with them and take some secrets to the grave? These are difficult questions and I hesitate to say that there is a one-size-fits-all answer.”"

On the one hand, I can understand why loved ones who are seeking closure may well wish to turn to social media companies. See, for example, #blackmirror S5 E2, "Smithereens" - part of the plot relates to a mother's quest to gain access to the social media account of her late daughter who passed away suddenly.¹

But on the other hand, it's a little simplistic to assume that uncovering the deceased's secrets - whether buried in their social media accounts or elsewhere - universally leads to positive outcomes. For example, the American Hospice Foundation has written of how uncovering a deceased loved one's secrets can cause sadness to be overtaken by anger, shame, rejection, and even isolation.²

And that's before we even consider the deceased's wishes. In the first place, what rights do the dead have?³ Do the dead have an expectation of privacy? And putting aside rights, are we properly honouring the deceased, and their wishes, by demanding access to their social media accounts? One day, in the far future, should a grandchild be allowed access to the cringey DMs that their deceased grandparent had sent out in their callow youth?

I don't have the answers to these questions. For now, all I can say is that it's going to be a long while yet before I specify, in my will, that my wife and children will have access to my social media accounts.⁴