So, I had a quick discussion with patrons as I worked the Customer Service desk a few days ago.
They had heard about this mother who was taking Facebook to court over the question of profile ownership. At first , I thought that this was a simple black and white question, but then as more details came out in this discussion, I was pulled into that awful gray zone where there is no definitive answer in my mind.
I know that work emails we create belong to the the company. It is our communication but it is archived and the ownership is theirs. I get that. It was a surprise as a non-techy person to learn this. Email is not like the postal service (snail mail). It is not private.
So I thought that this case the mother trying to get ownership of her dead son's profile was simply the same idea. But wait! We now have so much of our lives online that once we are gone most of our thoughts and details are still out there forever! So.....? Should our loved ones be able to collect and control these details?
Isn't that what our estate being passed down generation to generation is all about?
Do we need to be adding this detail in our wills? What to do with our Twitter account or Facebook profile or my many many Pinterest pins? Much like my old diaries and genealogical files I have from my great grandmother. My thoughts may be of interest to someone at some point historically.
I can imagine how my children would roll their eyes at this suggestion, but I believe that they may indeed be seeing this in my will. The clan gathered around in the lawyers office at the reading of the will, and Heather will get my Pinterest account and Kent will have control of my Facebook.
