Delaware has become the first U.S. state to pass a measure granting the family of a deceased individual rights to the person's email and other online accounts as if they were actual property.
The "Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets and Digital Accounts Act" essentially makes email, social network accounts and domain name management into physical assets under the jurisdiction of a dead person's heirs and the executor of the will, The Telegraph reported.
Additionally covering online banking and shopping, the law hands over connected devices such as laptops, tablets and phones as well as "any similar storage device which currently exists or may exist as technology develops" to the person's family.
The law for now only appears to apply to Delaware residents.
"If a California resident dies and his will is governed by California law, the representative of his estate would not have access to his Twitter account under HB 345," Kelly Bachman, a spokeswoman for the Delaware governor's office, told Ars Technica in an email.
"But if a person dies and his will is governed by Delaware law, the representative of that person's estate would have access to the decedent's Twitter account under HB 345. So the main question in determining whether HB 345 applies is not where the company having the digital account (i.e., Twitter) is incorporated or even where the person holding the digital account resides."
Twitter, Facebook and Google have not yet replied to requests for comment from Ars Technica and other media. Under Facebook's terms of service, giving your password to anyone is not allowed without getting the company's written permission.
A lawmaker has praised the new measure as a way to help the law code catch up with technology's leaps forward.
"This problem is an example of something we see all the time in our high-tech age--our laws simply haven't kept up with advancements in technology," State Rep. Darryl Scott, D-Dover, said in a statement last week quoted by Ars Technica. "By signing this bill into law, we're helping to protect the rights and interests of the average person in the face of a rapidly evolving digital world."
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