I can understand Yahoo’s position on this, as someone who’s had their Yahoo! account hacked into before, but there are sometimes you should just bend the rules. (Let’s just ignore the fact that if they do it for one person, they’ll be opening a whole other can of worms, shall we?)
The family of a Marine killed in Iraq is pleading with Internet giant Yahoo! for access to his e-mail account, which the company says is off-limits under its privacy policy.
Lance Cpl. Justin M. Ellsworth, 20, was killed by a roadside bomb on November 13 during a foot patrol in Al Anbar province. The family wants the complete e-mail file that Justin maintained, including notes to and from others.
“I want to be able to remember him in his words. I know he thought he was doing what he needed to do. I want to have that for the future,” said John Ellsworth, Justin’s father. “It’s the last thing I have of my son.”
Thanks Barney for the link.
Comments
This is interesting, and has definitely made me think about setting up something where my family could get to all my password protected accounts.
But.. (also ignoring the can of worms issues) I think Yahoo is correct in enforcing it’s privacy policy. What if the soldier had been communicating with somebody, unbeknownst to his family, regarding a subject matter that his family would find upsetting? Maybe he was exchanging love letters to a woman who is not his wife? or maybe his secret gay lover? or maybe he was competing with other soldiers about who could rape or kill the most Iraqis? or where to score the best heroin in the middle east.
(btw, your preview comment function gave me an error)…
continuing…
The Marine did not care to share with them in life, they should not be permitted to invade his privacy now.
God bless him, his family, and all those in the armed services bringing freedom to the world.
(Will see if I can fix the error, Mark, thanks). Thanks for your comments, Mark. I didn’t think about the communications he could be having, unbeknownst to his family.
Fixed the error. Thanks, Mark.
Ok I know it’s crass but that line about scoring the best heroin in the Middle East made me laugh!
Without wishing to sound even more crude… if they really want to get into his e-mails why don’t they just get someone to hack into them?
If anyone wants their family or others to read their mail, they can always forward it.