Information privacy - Coursework Example

However, of the 3 top email providers in the country, only Yahoo ended up having their privacy policy being challenged the American court of law. The reason? Lance Corporal Justin Ellsworth was killed in Iraq on November 13, 2004. His grieving parents wanted to access his email account, which was held by Yahoo in confidence so that they could have some sort of closure and learn what the final days of their son was like. They approached Yahoo with their request and were declined by the company based upon their privacy policy.

The parents then took the company to court in order to compel them to turn over the emails of their son based upon their right to their sons things as his parents. The case then became something for the U.S. courts to decide. Who should be given access to Lance Corporal Justin Ellsworth's emails? Is it alright to violate the trust that he gave Yahoo mail simply because he is now dead and will never know what they did? This paper hopes to delve deeper into the privacy concerns surrounding the case and hopefully answer the question as to whether it was right for Yahoo to have eventually turned over the emails of Ellsworth to his parents. . After 90 days of inactivity, Yahoo deletes the account.

there are important reasons why we feel it is important to uphold the preferences that are part of the agreement we have with our users regarding their privacy. “ “ (Hu, 2004) It is important to remember that Yahoo has a binding contract with Justin that stands legally even in the event of his death. As such, this would mean that the privacy of his emails shall be protected from all prying eyes. Specially since Justin did not die with a will that explicity allowed his parents access to his private email account.

Therefore, Yahoo does have the right to withhold access to his email account even from his parents. However, the courts of the United States saw things otherwise and on April 21 2005, Yahoo was compelled to turn over the emails in Justin's account to his parents. This despite the company policy that was set into place to prevent such actions from taking place. Although Yahoo lost the battle in court, there is nothing in the ruling that would compel Yahoo to change their ruling pertaining to email privacy of the deceased.

(Olsen, 2005) Yahoo turned over certain emails to the Ellsworths, emails which they felt were not sensitive in nature and thus would not violate the privacy policy and trust that Justin had placed in Yahoo services. The Ellsworths were expecting all of their son's emails but accepted the documents that Yahoo provided to them anyway. At least it gave them some sense of closure and gave them a peek into the last living days of their son. In my opinion, the courts should not have compelled Yahoo!

Mail to turn over any of the emails to the