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Follow UsA prominent Delhi-based businessman recently approached a Supreme Court
lawyer to help him prepare a will for his
assets. The will apparently contains provisions that enable his
successors to access private mails in his inbox and other digital
archives including personal photos, albums, documents, correspondence
and video clips after his death. The businessman, who is in his early
50s and also paints, bequeathed several email IDs to his nominees.
While one account has his artistic works, another has audio recordings
and another his autobiography.
Do not be taken aback. As we live more and more of our lives digitally
and store more and more of our wealth online, it is not long
before that this becomes the norm rather than exception.
Of importance?
A 'digital will' has two-fold characteristics, one as a will that is
expressed in the form of an electronic document, and the second as a
physical will that encompasses provisions for bequeathing digital
assets. The former currently is not recognized by virtue of the ITA
2008. While the second is slowly gaining importance as 'electronic
document' or a 'password' or 'files in electronic form either in a
computer or on the web' are recognized as an asset. But the bone of
contention is whether such assets qualify for treatment as 'movable or
immovable', or should they be classified under a totally new bracket
called as 'virtual assets'. N Vijayashankar, a reputed cyber law
specialist and an e-business consultant, firmly believes that there is
scope for a separate legislation on 'Inheritance of Virtual Assets' on
the lines of Transfer of Property Act or Indian Succession Act or a
combination of both.
But not all agree with the proposition. Says
Mukhi, an expert on cyber laws and consultant, Cyber Law, DSK
Legal, "If I have a song or an album, I do not own the copyright of it
and I might as well just gift it to the person whom I would like to.
The same is the case for an ipod or a laptop. As far as an E-mail is
concerned, how would you prove your ownership on your id, which in fact
is owned by a yahoo, gmail, rediffmail, etc. So, how can you transfer
the rights of something that you yourself do not own. In such a
scenario the ownership is the big question."
Even different online service providers have different privacy
policies. Yahoo!'s is the most strict. Yahoo usually will not grant
permission to anyone to access a deceased users account. The only
permission Yahoo grants is for the account to be deleted. Gmail is
softer. One just has to provide the proof in form of an email that a
dead person had written from that account to a verifiable email account
of the person claiming access to the account, while providing a proof
that he/she is the legal heir. Hotmail has a similar policy. Facebook
will not grant anyone access to a deceased user account, but if the
user of the account is deceased, their page will be turned into a
memorial page once requested. By filling out the form to turn an
deceased users page into a memorial page, Facebook will remove
sensitive information on the account like status updates and will only
allow current friends to access the page. Family members will then be
allowed to customize the page of the deceased user.
There is no separate digital will that any of these companies require.
So, is there much ado about nothing? Or is it just a matter of time?
Who Will Inherit Your Digital Assets?
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