What a company can and cannot do when it comes to the release of digital information often comes down to the language of the "terms of service" agreement it has with customers. Some firms explicitly state that they will not share information while others do not address the issue. The fact that Internet accounts are by their nature contracts raises questions about whether they can be owned.
"We might wish that our Web-based e-mail accounts were like our books and diaries, but they certainly aren't for most legal purposes," said Cindy Cohn, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a think tank in San Francisco.
Richard Linn, father of Marine Lance Cpl. Karl Linn, killed in Iraq, looks at his son's Web site. Mailbank.com refused to give information about the account.
(Jay Paul For The Washington Post)
|
_____Graphic_____
•
Web Chronicle Excerpts from the online journal of Army Spec. Michael J. Smith.
|
| |
|
E-mail accounts can hold an array of personal material, from banking and e-commerce records to notes passed among friends and family, providing a unique window into someone's life. Online journals, known as blogs, and personal Web sites also often offer intimate portraits of their authors, and not all of the material is necessarily viewable to the public.
For some family members of military officers killed in Iraq, retrieving these digital relics has become an important part of mourning their loved ones.
Take Karl Linn's Web page. Linn, who was buried yesterday, was a small guy (when he first went into basic training his commanders were so worried about his 5-foot, 6-inch, 125-pound frame that they put him on double rations) with big ideas (he had a full-tuition scholarship to Virginia Commonwealth University, where he was in his second year as a mechanical engineering major). He was always the tinkerer, and his site, www.karl.linn.net, reflected that.
In a text message on the main page, he apologized for the "improvised" look. "Below you will find what I have to share in the way of news from the front or whatever's on my mind."
Mostly, he used the page to post pictures. One showed the view down the Euphrates River from 10 stories up on the Haditha Dam where his unit was stationed. Another showed him sitting in a Humvee with full battle gear as he prepared to go on patrol.
His father, Richard Linn, 51, who is in software sales, said his son told him he had been working on another Web site at the time of his death, and Richard Linn hopes some of the information is still in the account. He believes his son may have stored some sketches he was making about his designs and inventions related to small arms and robotics.
"I think computer accounts are part of personal effects and I have power of attorney. It wasn't like he didn't trust me to take care of his affairs, and I know what I should or shouldn't be reading," Richard Linn said.
Eric Boustani, legal counsel for Mailbank.com, which is based in Reno, Nev., declined to comment on individual customers but said it is the company's policy to "support absolute privacy of our clients." He said the company is eager to help families download public information on the Web site but believes that by releasing non-public account information like a password or things that have not been published yet, there's "as much potential for harm as there is for good in that situation."
