Should Justin Ellsworth's Parents Have Been Given Access to His Email?

Should Justin Ellsworth's Parents have been given access to his email? The story of Justin’s death and his father’s subsequent plea to Yahoo for access to his e-mail is heart wrenching. Justin is a US Marine that was killed in action while serving in Iraq on November 13, 2004. After his death, his parents wanted access to his emails. Yahoo declined their request, stating that the company’s privacy policy prohibited them from disclosing the contents of his email to anyone. Personally, I do not think relatives or anyone else for that matter should have access to information contained in personal e-mail accounts after the death of the individual. This paper takes a look at the legal, ethical and social aspects of the deceased, the family and finally the company. Justin and the parties contained in his e-mails have the right to privacy. Justin’s family simply wanted the e-mail to remember his words. Yahoo’s terms of service require the company not to disclose private email communications for its users. The Internet Service Provider (ISP) has a responsibility to all its customers to uphold individual privacy and also fully respect a family's request.

Once you are deceased, would it matter what people find in your email or what is contained on your social networking sites? To me, the answer to this question is yes. I try to live my life without walking around in the shadows. I feel that what people think of me after death is just as important as my reputation in life. For any of us that have lost love ones, it seems that the good memories fade faster than the bad. Family members are not in a stable state of mind immediately following the death of a child, no matter what age. I am sure that Justin (along with most of us that serve/have served) would not want anything embarrassing to be discovered in his personal e-mail that would distract his parents from remembering him as a son first, Marine always. Besides, if we wanted everyone to read our e-mail,...