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Two principal issues arise over a person's digital estate. First, the inheritability of the digital content must be determined. Only digital content for which the deceased holds the copyright may be passed down to an inheritor. There is a distinction in law between full ownership and right-to-use licenses such as in software, digital music, film and books and there is legal precedent for denying resale or bequest of these.<ref>Masnick, M. (2010, September 13). ''Appeals court destroys first sale: You don't own your software anymore''. Techdirt''.'' https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100912/12212110968.shtml</ref> Second, the heir or administrator of an estate must be able to access the content. This sometimes means navigating any online contracts or service providers’ terms of service agreements regarding their policies on user privacy and user death.<ref name=":1" /><ref name="Moneywise2">Bevan, K. (2014, July 23). ''Leaving a digital legacy''. Moneywise. https://web.archive.org/web/20150402152830/http://www.moneywise.co.uk/cut-your-costs/family-life/leaving-digital-legacy</ref>
== Obstacles to digital inheritance ==
Estate laws and privacy laws do not yet fully address the challenges presented by the ubiquitous nature of modern life in the digital world. Online service providers, such as those for social media sites, email, and cloud storage services, use terms of service agreements to outline their privacy policies. These are then used in arguments against providing family members access to a deceased user's account.<ref name=":2">Borden, M. (2014). Covering your digital assets: Why the stored communications act stands in the way of digital inheritance. ''Ohio State Law Journal, 75''(2)'','' 405-446. https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/ohslj75&i=421</ref> One legal argument makes a distinction between the ownership of an online account and the content that is created on that account: content created by a user, regardless of the platform it is created or displayed on, constitutes that user's intellectual property and should thus be considered inheritable as a digital asset.<ref>Brillo, D. P., & Escalona, N. C. (2015). Succession in the internet age: Dissecting the ambiguities of digital inheritance. ''Philippine Law Journal, 89''(4), 835-864. https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/philplj89&i=871</ref>
In the United States, online service providers craft their terms of service agreements to remain compliant with the [[Stored Communications Act]] (SCA). Originally passed in 1986, the SCA sought to protect communication privacy by prohibiting service providers from disclosing a customer's electronically stored content to a third party. This includes potential beneficiaries of a digital estate.<ref name=":12">Ferrante, R. E. (2013). The relationship between digital assets and their transference at death: It's complicated. ''Loyola Journal of Public Interest Law, 15''(1)'','' 37-62. https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/loyjpubil15&i=47</ref>
==Issues==
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