Deven Desai writes:
The Boston Phoenix has an article about what Facebook coughs up when a subpoena is sent to the company. The paper came across the material as it worked on an article called Hunting the Craigslist Killer. The issues that come to mind for me are
1. Privacy after death? In may article Property, Persona, and Preservation which uses the question of who owns email after death, I argue that privacy after death isn’t tenable. The release of information after someone dies (the man committed suicide), (From ZDNET “he man committed suicide, which meant the police didn’t care if the Facebook document was published elsewhere, after robbing two women and murdering a third.”) brings up a question Dan Solove and I have debated. What about those connected to the dead person? The facts here matter.
2. What are reasons to redact or not release information? Key facts about redaction and public records complicate the question of death and privacy. I’m assuming the person has no privacy after death. But his or her papers may reveal information about those connected to the dead person. In this case the police did not redact, but the paper did. Sort of.
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