I thought about death and information in the cloud a few times earlier. There were two problems with handing over the information to the next of kin: 1. How wil

I thought about death and information in the cloud a few times earlier. There were two problems with handing over the information to the next of kin: 1. How will the family members prove that the claimed account indeed belongs to the deceased? 2. Was the account holder OK with passing the information to his kin? When it comes to physical diaries and mail, we know that someone will have access to it after we die. I don't think same applies to digital content. Does the ruling in Yahoo's case mean that the laws in the US dictate handing over information to family members? If so, why has Yahoo not amended its privacy policy to reflect this. I think it's pretty easy for all these service providers to add an option where the account holder can nominate a heir for his information. Options should be: 1. Details of the chosen heir 2. Default legal heir 3. No one should get access to my information.