4 ms·

This is a good decision. Letters and journals of dead children also go to the parents. I fail to see why online accounts should make a difference.

by madez 8y ago

amarant 8y ago
i suppose one could argue that change should have gone in the other direction. but that's academical. at least now we have consistency, this is of course good
zeveb 8y ago
This itself is a good point: contrary to the assumptions a lot of us made in the 90s, cyberspace really isn't an entirely new plane of existence, and there's a lot of overlap with ideas & concepts which already exist offline & with which we're already familiar. We already have a process for what happens to a person's belongings after death; a person's online accounts are belongings; therefor we already have a process for what happens to a person's online accounts after death. Yes, each jurisdiction will have its own rules, but again we already have a process for determining what happens to possessions in other jurisdictions upon the owner's death. (as an aside, this is part of why '… but with a computer!' patents shouldn't be patentable: they're obvious)
bloak 8y ago
An online account is a different thing from a physical object like a letter or journal, which can be freely transferred from one living person to another living person. (The right to reproduce the contents of letters and journals is another matter!) An online account is a contractual relationship. I don't know about Facebook, but most online accounts are explicitly non-transferable. So it's not at all obvious that Germany should make these things transferable on the contractee's death regardless of what's written in the T&Cs, if that's what's happened.
- Tomte 8y ago
  A rent agreement or a gym membership are also non-physical, yet are being inherited.
  - bloak 8y ago
    Sometimes they are inherited, sometimes not, depending on the T&Cs. If it's not transferable while the contractee is alive then I wouldn't expect it to be automatically transfered when the contractee dies.
- tscs37 8y ago
  Contractual relationships have limited conditions under which they can be terminated. If you die, your heirs (or in this case parents) can inherit the contract and continue it. Additionally, not everything the T&C says, up to and including "accounts are not transferable" is not automatically legal.

This is a good decision. Letters and journals of dead children also go to the parents. I fail to see why online accounts should make a difference.

by madez 8y ago

This is a good decision. Letters and journals of dead children also go to the parents. I fail to see why online accounts should make a difference.

amarant 8y ago

i suppose one could argue that change should have gone in the other direction. but that's academical. at least now we have consistency, this is of course good

zeveb 8y ago

This itself is a good point: contrary to the assumptions a lot of us made in the 90s, cyberspace really isn't an entirely new plane of existence, and there's a lot of overlap with ideas & concepts which already exist offline & with which we're already familiar. We already have a process for what happens to a person's belongings after death; a person's online accounts are belongings; therefor we already have a process for what happens to a person's online accounts after death. Yes, each jurisdiction will have its own rules, but again we already have a process for determining what happens to possessions in other jurisdictions upon the owner's death. (as an aside, this is part of why '… but with a computer!' patents shouldn't be patentable: they're obvious)

bloak 8y ago

An online account is a different thing from a physical object like a letter or journal, which can be freely transferred from one living person to another living person. (The right to reproduce the contents of letters and journals is another matter!) An online account is a contractual relationship. I don't know about Facebook, but most online accounts are explicitly non-transferable. So it's not at all obvious that Germany should make these things transferable on the contractee's death regardless of what's written in the T&Cs, if that's what's happened.

Tomte 8y ago
A rent agreement or a gym membership are also non-physical, yet are being inherited.
- bloak 8y ago
  Sometimes they are inherited, sometimes not, depending on the T&Cs. If it's not transferable while the contractee is alive then I wouldn't expect it to be automatically transfered when the contractee dies.
tscs37 8y ago
Contractual relationships have limited conditions under which they can be terminated. If you die, your heirs (or in this case parents) can inherit the contract and continue it. Additionally, not everything the T&C says, up to and including "accounts are not transferable" is not automatically legal.