Yahoo! releases dead marine's emails

The internet firm has given the father of a US Marine killed in Iraq access to his late son's email but only after a court order obliged them do so.

Complying with a court order, Yahoo! agreed to give the family of a US Marine killed in Iraq access to the soldier's email.

On Wednesday, an Oakland County probate court in Michigan ordered Yahoo! to give the contents of the email account to the father of Justin Ellsworth, 20, who was killed in November by a roadside bomb in Fallujah.

Yahoo! complied with the mandate on Thursday, despite the company's policy of not giving email passwords to anyone other than the account holder.

A Yahoo! spokeswoman said: "We are pleased the court resolved this matter."

The case highlights uncertainty about the privacy of people's digital life in the event of their death and about the responsibilities ISPs have toward family members.

Experts say there has yet to be a definitive court ruling on the status of email as to whether it is an extension of the deceased's estate at the time of his or her passing.

Ray Everett-Church, principal for privacy consultancy PrivacyClue, said: "If an ISP's terms of service run contrary to what would seem to be a reasonable holding by a probate court, then you would need to have a hearing to find which position would win out — whether the public interest is better served by releasing personal data or by upholding a privacy holding in an ISP's terms of service."

Still, privacy experts say ISPs are within their rights to ask the courts to make such a ruling. "If it turned out some shenanigans were going on, Yahoo! would be in breach of its own privacy policy," Everett-Church said.

Some email providers, such as AOL, allow next-of-kin to access email accounts of the deceased by submitting documents proving the relationship and by faxing a copy of the death certificate. AOL does not require loved ones to go through the courts.

Yahoo!'s terms of service prohibit the company from disclosing private email communications. Yahoo! will turn over an account to family members only after they go through the courts to verify their identity and relationship to the deceased.

Despite its compliance in the case, Yahoo! said it will not reverse its company policy, choosing instead to honour the privacy of account holders.

Yahoo! delivered to Ellsworth's father, John Ellsworth, a CD of his email documents, according to the spokeswoman. The company also plans to provide him with printouts of the communications early next week.

John Ellsworth could not be reached for comment on Thursday. But in an interview with Detroit radio station WJR, he credited Yahoo! for acting quickly and responsibly once the legal issues were settled, including helping him decrypt the information on the CD.

"I do appreciate Yahoo!'s take on this, and I'm glad we were able to come to an agreement," he said.

Stefanie Olsen writes for News.com