Death in the Digital Age
Ping!
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I have been the executor of estates three times and I can tell you that absent letters testamentary establishing legal Power of Attorney for the estate of the deceased, or a copy of the deceased person's will, or powers of a trustee for a legal trust with ownership of the deceased's property, the contents of the computer must remain private until a court of appropriate jurisdiction determines who is allowed possession of those data. The father may not be the legal next of kin.
Apple legally cannot make that decision to hand over that access. Apple could be held liable for releasing it to an unauthorized third party when a court does determine who should have gotten it.
Yup.
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The article is about far more than Apple, it is about establishing less-cumbersome means of granting permissions to others in case of demise. The author understands the status quo; he is asking for an improvement.
Depending on the case, Apple should also say that they would like to help and will put their willingness to help in to their statement to the probate court, for example.
I love the lack of humanity on this thread. It explains so much of this world. Its like eating dust.
A man's son was murdered. He left music and art. His father wants it.
Yet all people see is corporate law.
Sodom and Gomorrah weren't about fags - they were about THIS.
Utter, socially suicidal, heartlessness.
In the name of the "law."
Get a freakin will! And spell it out what happens with your stuff. So simple.
“Apple acted rightly on this.”
Oooh.
Apple never does wrong, of course they acted rightly.
If the guy set up FileVault (disk encryption) correctly, even Apple won’t be able to get at the data.
I completely agree, if the family wants this information so badly, then getting the court order to do so is a minor irritation, and without any indication in his will or otherwise that he desired that data to be made available to his family, Apple should not be put in a position where it is making that decision.
Computer World is still around?
Wow!
As a practical matter, if I want someone to have access to my data, I will give them the password while I am still alive.
This is a very easy thing to do, and leaves Apple or any other computer company completely out of the loop.
Otherwise, Apple is right on this.
I have no idea where that Mac is located or where the owner resided when he died.
But if the Mac is located in anywhere in Michigan, and if the owner resided in Michigan when he died, and if the Mac was not property of a trust, then the county probate court of his residence has absolute jurisdiction of the Mac until a personal representative (executor) is appointed. Spouses normally get priority for this, then children. That person would then be able to get an order for Apple to assist in retrieving the data.
Only the data and intellectual property owned by the decedent (or rights owned by the decedent) are property of the estate. Other data and intellectual property on the Mac remain property of the original owner.
The decedent’s interest in the data and intellectual property get distributed to the heirs according to the will or by the laws of intestacy. The father of the decedent may or may not be in line to inherit.
If Apple acts without a court order, someone else can sue and win.
You can think of the data on the Mac like the contents of a safe deposit box. The bank isn’t giving anybody the key without a court order.
The father is now the owner of the computer, and Apple should be willing to help someone recover stuff from their own computer.
If they refuse, the world may never see the son's artwork.
I gotta agree with Apple on this one.
Morgan Heir murder: MPs' help sought in Apple laptop fight— BBC — 28 August 2016
Colin Hehir said his son's artwork, seen behind him, was stored on the laptopA father has called on MPs to help force computer giant Apple to unlock his murdered son's laptop.
Morgan Hehir, 20, from Nuneaton, Warwickshire, was stabbed with a steak knife in the street on 31 October last year. Three men were jailed in June.
His father Colin said last month that Apple told him he must obtain a court order to access his son's artwork.
He said he wants Parliament to discuss Apple's terms and conditions.
"I do want to push this to Parliament because I believe the terms and conditions are unfair," he said.
Morgan Heir was an artist and a musicianMr Heir said he had been contacted by other bereaved families who have encountered the same problem, not just with Apple.
"If we have probate, you should be allowed access. Simple as that."
He said his son was a painter and a musician, who stored his work on the laptop, which he wanted to see.
He described his son as a "contributor to the community" and said he and the family would not have been able to cope following the killing had it not been for the help of friends within that community.
A music and arts festival, organized by friends and family, was held in Nuneaton on Saturday in Morgan's memory.
Apple has said that due to the absence of permission for third party access to the account, "it is impossible to be certain what access the user would have wanted and we do not consider it is appropriate that Apple make the decision". It advised the family to obtain a court order, adding that the company recognized the "extremely difficult" situation.
The probate court should issue Letters Testamentary which give the Executor the power of attorney to have Apple unlock the laptop. If they did not present those, which are the orders Apple is looking to see, their hands are tied.
When I was an executor, I was given such letters, signed by the Probate Court Judge, which I could copy as necessary to give to various fiducially responsible companies so they could release data, money, access to accounts, etc. The companies usually wanted to see the original with the Court Embossed Seal, but they were happy to file the copies. They were like magic keys that unlocked doors for me. Without those letters, I couldn't get squat done, with them, it was as if I were the deceased doing what the deceased could do with his property.
I concur. Apple is the only corporation that takes privacy rights seriously.
