As we noted over a year ago in “Issues: Transfer of Personal Online Accounts to Third Parties“, what happens to your account after your death depends on the stated policies of that website. This morning on Skype Journal, Phil Wolff wrote the following:

MySpace says your account dies with you. They mean your login information and all the data you created and used. This includes your buddy list, avatars, history logs, text chat archives, etc.

This is very important when applied to accounts that are for groups, bands, etc.:

That’s immensely useful information, rich in hard won social capital. People use IM to organize their churches, school projects, political clubs, work teams; their real world and online lives.

It becomes necessary to find a website that will allow for transfer of login rights and information to other individuals. In this case, it is much easier to register your own domain, setup the hosting of the site, and then document all of this information so that someone else in the organization can continue the foundation you created without having to build from scratch.

Read Phil’s full comments contained in the article, “Your MySpaceIM account dies when you do“.

In an article in the San Francisco Chronicle titled “Anguished tales of property taken by state“, stories are told including one where a woman’s safety deposit box was declared abandoned though the owner had not been contacted by the bank to determine if it was still active (which it was). The State of California seized ownership of the contents. Considering what we’ve noted before about safe locations to place the documentation of your online life, it would seem that safety deposit boxes are no longer “safe”.

There is a link at the bottom of the article to help you determine if the state is holding any forgotten assets belonging to you.

(via Consumerist.com)

This became a hot issue on a few forums including ask.metafilter.com and lifehacker.com.  How best do you leave behind the master password for your accounts, whether it be a password database or your email password which would allow for the user to request “lost” passwords for all your accounts?

It would seem that the best method I saw mentioned in one of the forums was to manage a password list at home in a location that is static and then reference that place in your will.  For example, do you have a favorite book that you will never give away (i.e., Dianetics by L. Ron Hubbard)?  Then place the list at a specific location in the book (i.e., at page 214, the area code you live in).  Then, add a note to your will that specifies that the password list can be found in that book at the noted page.  You never have to update your will again (unless you change preferred books) and then you only have to manage the list at home by updating it in the book.

Another possibility was also given within the forums, but not directly related to this problem.  Some were concerned about giving out their email password.  However, it may still be necessary to access something that requires one of your passwords.  There are several services (thelastemail.com, mylastemail.com, and postexpression.com to name a few) that offer to send a final email to your contact list once they are notified of your passing.   If you wanted to, you could include the password information in such a message so that it goes to the proper beneficiaries without having to give out all of your information.  I haven’t looked into these services, but surely you could specify several different emails to different lists which would allow for more personal, targeted messages.
Any other ideas on how to best leave a “trail” for your family to follow?  Submit your ideas to stories [at] beforeyouaregone [dot] com.  Also feel free to let us know if you have used any of the final email services and what your thoughts are about them.

In this post, we delve a little further into the topic of the previous post by reviewing the Terms of Service for Xbox Live and for Sony’s PlayOnline. Each of these have important notices in them directly applicable to how you can handle transferral of the accounts and/or related “goods”.

For starters, we’ll look over Xbox Live’s Terms of Service. The first section that stood out was under Section 7: Microsoft Points (emphasis mine):

When you obtain Points, you have obtained a limited license to a digital good. Points have no monetary value. You may not obtain any cash or money in exchange for Points, regardless of how you acquired those Points. Points are not your personal property. Your only recourse for using Points is to obtain the specific online services or digital goods that we offer for Points redemption.

Further review of the document revealed the following section titled “Assignment” that actually expands on what was noted in the previous excerpt.

We may assign this contract, in whole or in part, at any time with or without notice to you. You may not assign this contract, or any part of it, to any other party. Any attempt by you to do so is void. Instead, you may cancel your Service. The other party may then establish a Service account and enter into a contract with us.

So as you can see, any account owned by someone who is deceased cannot in any way be assigned to another beneficiary. This is probably also made clear in the first section defining the parties in this “contract”:

You are an individual person. You must be at least 18 years old and have attained the age of majority in the province, state or country in which you live.

Note that the account is not specific to your Xbox or Xbox360, but to you as an individual. Thus, your death terminates the contract and the account must be deleted without any assignment. It does not go with the game console.

Now let’s also review Sony’s PlayOnline Terms of Service and see if they are similar. Under Section 4.1: Ownership and Rights:

Further, SEI shall have the right to assign and/or delegate in its sole discretion its rights and obligations under this Agreement in whole or in part to third party at any time without notice to Users.

Notice what it does not mention whereas Xbox Live’s TOS does mention. It does not restrict assignment of the account to another individual. Therefore, on the surface at least, it appears that a beneficiary may be assigned the account (as long as the beneficiary is 18 years or older (else he/she must be 13 years or older and the parent/guardian must receive assignment of the account to permit the teenager to play). However, the first sentence of that same section just may prevent assignment:

SEI (and, to the extent applicable, its licensors) owns and shall retain all right, title and interest in and to the PlayOnline Service, the Software and all Documentation, and will be the sole owner of any and all data you generate through your use of the PlayOnline Service, and you receive only limited rights to access and use PlayOnline Service, the Software and all Documentation, as set forth in any applicable license agreement.

Since the “you” in this contract is the person who entered into this agreement, it could be safely assumed that assignment of the account may not be permitted. Keep in mind that we are not lawyers and cannot guarantee that our assumptions here are correct. If it is an issue of importance to you, we do recommend you discuss this with your own lawyer.

As with all Terms of Service, EULAs, and contracts in which you enter into, it is important that you review them thoroughly to be clear what you may or may not pass on to other individuals upon your death.

It is your responsibility when preparing to determine beneficiaries of online property whether the terms of the service involved allows for such transfers.  For example, as of this time, Second Life has the following statement in Section 2.4 of its Terms of Service.

You may not transfer your Account to any third party without the prior written consent of Linden Lab; notwithstanding the foregoing, Linden Lab will not unreasonably withhold consent to the transfer of an Account in good standing by operation of valid written will to a single natural person, provided that proper notice and documentation are delivered as requested by Linden Lab. 

As you can see, it is not an issue as long as it is included in a written will.  Not all online services make such allowances.  For instance, the Terms of Service for Yahoo! accounts has the following under No Right of Survivorship and Non-Transferability:

You agree that your Yahoo! account is non-transferable and any rights to your Yahoo! ID or contents within your account terminate upon your death. Upon receipt of a copy of a death certificate, your account may be terminated and all contents therein permanently deleted.

In some cases, it may even be necessary to identify the individual(s) within the website account itself.  This is especially true of online insurance accounts.

Yeah, it’s pretty much a meme across the Internet and the mainstream news outlets about the AOL subscriber who tried to cancel an account and only met with frustration. It was difficult enough for him being the owner of the account. How much more complex/impossible would it be to do this type of cancellation if you’re the spouse/parent/child of the owner of the account who has deceased? Does it kinda intimidate you that it can be this difficult?

Face it. It’s that difficult with any service in which you subscribe and can faithfully (within contract terms) end the arrangement. After all, every one of these companies has a department or group within the organization deemed “Retention”. The point of the group is to retain you as a customer and they usually receive compensation/commission for each customer they retain. Naturally, it is in THEIR best interest to keep you on. Ironically for the AOL representative, his attempts to further line his own pockets resulted in his termination.

In a similar vein, another individual also met with this kind of brick wall when he attempted to cancel his father’s gym membership at Gold’s Gym after the man had been dead for 2 years. They went so far as requiring the death certificate (most likely because they assumed someone was just trying to get out of a contract early) before they would end the monthly charges.

Unfortunately, in many cases, it was people in the past who had used excuses such as feigning their own death in order to get out of contracts. We certainly do not endorse/condone such actions since you signed the contract. However, it has created an atmosphere of distrust by the major companies of anyone who is attempting to divest their monies from them.

The best advice for you is to stick to your guns like Vincent Ferrari did and don’t raise your voice (after all, they have the right to end the call if the customer is belligerent). Perseverance wins over low-paid call center employees.

In what is going to be an interesting legal case, an attorney is suing over his account being locked due to misuse of the auction system within Second Life. The actual result of this case is important in one aspect: does the virtual property in Second Life have the status of “real” property in terms of financial/legal ownership?

Naturally, there are arguments both ways and even a conference discussing these types of issues. However, it will be critical, should virtual property be deemed real property, to protect your investment for your beneficiaries. Some of this property can be worth thousands in real dollars, a significant amount of money that should be passed on to someone.

Other things to consider in this possible outcome is if the property is now taxable and whether or not the transfer of that property to a beneficiary can be contested. Virtual property as real property opens up a whole new set of questions that we haven’t yet asked or answered.

How many of you who play Second Life have your account information documented? Do you want to risk the loss of that property because you didn’t take the time to write it down somewhere?

Uncle Harold passes away and among his belongings are many of his old records, cassettes, 8-track tapes and even some CDs and an iPod. All of these he has bequeathed to his favorite nephew who truly appreciated music as he did. There is no question that all of the physical property has changed owners.

However, what happens to the digital music on that iPod? In theory, it is purchased property that is merely passing hands. Does iTunes feel the same way? What if there is no way of finding out his account information since he never kept a record of it? You suddenly are owner of an iPod without the ability to transfer the legal license to that digital property.

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