Court Rejects Parent Inquiry to Access Dead Child's Facebook Account
A German court rejected a mother's demand that Facebook grant her access to her deceased daughter's account.
The Berlin appeals court said the right to private telecommunications extended to electronic communication that was meant only for the eyes of certain people, overturning a lower court's decision. The court added that the parents' obligation to protect their daughter's rights expired with her death.
A 15-year-old girl was hit and killed by a subway train in Berlin in 2012 and her parents wanted to access their daugther's account to search for clues as to whether the girl had committed suicide.
Facebook had refused access to the account.