Facebook ruling: German court grants parents rights to dead daughter's account

[Deleted]

I never really thought about this

Germany's highest court has ruled that the parents of a dead daughter have the rights to her Facebook account under inheritance law.

The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) said online data should be treated the same as private diaries or letters, and pass to heirs.

The case involves parents of a 15-year-old girl killed by a train in 2012.

They sought access to her Facebook account to try to determine whether the death was suicide.

Aside from emotional closure, the parents also wanted to know whether the train driver was entitled to compensation - as would be the case in the event of a suicide.

Facebook had refused access to the account after their daughter's death, citing privacy concerns about the girl's contacts.

Under its current policy, the company only allows relatives of the dead partial access to the account, allowing them to change the page into an online memorial or to delete it entirely.

A lower German court backed the parents in 2015, supporting the claim that Facebook data was covered by inheritance law as the equivalent of private correspondence.

But in 2017, an appeals court backed Facebook and overturned the ruling, on the grounds that any contract between the girl and the company ended with her death and could not pass on to the parents.

The case went to the BGH, and her parents have now reportedly taken over the account.

Judge Ulrich Hermann said it was common to hand over private diaries and correspondence to legal heirs after death, and there was no reason to treat digital data any differently.

Moreover, the court added that the parents had a right to know who their child, a minor, had spoken to online.

In recent years, Facebook has come under increasing scrutiny in Germany - in particular over fake news on the platform.

The company introduced new tools in Germany to combat fabricated stories, shortly before the government approved plans to levy heavy fines on social media firms if they failed to remove inappropriate comments and content quickly.

I always told my mother in the avent of my death I would like her to log onto my FB and explain my demise to my FB friends

[Lochton]

Well, it makes sense that it is part of the inheritance law. As well, family members deserve the right to be able to finish loose ends from a passed away.

[GennGreymane]

Or they should be allowed to delete the account

heard some weird stories of people dying and others hacking into the deceased FB to fuck around with it. Spooky to get a msg from a dead person.

[Sunseeker]

Seems about right.

[Easo]

This should be basic logic. Privacy laws do not have to be on the extreme end of spectrum.

[Enrif]

Germany and the internet have their issues, but this was a great ruling in favor of the people and not the companies or the state

[Raeph]

This part of the ruling raises some issues for law regarding privacy of minors as well as digital data in general.

Judge Ulrich Hermann said it was common to hand over private diaries and correspondence to legal heirs after death, and there was no reason to treat digital data any differently.

Moreover, the court added that the parents had a right to know who their child, a minor, had spoken to online.

[Frolk]

This should be basic logic. Privacy laws do not have to be on the extreme end of spectrum.

basic logic dosnt work when mixing todays tech and laws that were made 40 years ago.