Thursday, February 03, 2005

Copyright and Electronic Memories

A marine reservist has died in Iraq. He maintained a Web site with his memories while over there. Now his parents are trying to be able to gain access to them because they are precious to them. The company which hosted their son's web site says that guarding the privacy of their customers prevents them from giving the parents access. The parents argue it is part of the estate.

What does this have to do with genealogy? LOTS! Think of all the genealogists out there who post scrapbooks of their memories online. What happens to those when they die? A legal decision on the above case could prevent the next of kin from gaining access to those "precious memories." Let's hope not.

I can only hope that the courts side with the parents!

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