Dr Laura James's writings

Another Tuesday, another Arcadia Seminar! This week we heard from Lilian Edwards , Professor of Internet Law at Sheffield, on Death 2.0: What Becomes of Digital Assets after Death.  I won't attempt to summarise - there is a great precis from Daithí Mac Síthigh here . Professor Edwards went beyond questions of how to provide your heirs with the ability to access your encrypted data (usefully discussed by Cory Doctorow here ) and into the tricky area of digital assets and reputation. The talk covered questions of archiving and access (for the public good and for financial gain, as well as for sentimental reasons), issues of privacy, and of course the tricky legal situation, where the third party of an internet platform probably has some control. Terms and conditions of web services vary in the ways they handle the death of a user  - if they do at all - as well as the jurisdictions where they might operate. Facebook, for all the fuss around privacy and control of data, is one of