Death and Privacy in the Digital Age

Americans store an overwhelming amount of sensitive and personal information online. When developers created these online services and platforms, it is unlikely that they gave much thought to what would happen to accounts when an account holder died. Yet, the treatment of these accounts after an account holder’s death is an increasingly pressing issue in today’s society as more and more Americans die with active, password-protected accounts in their name.

Natalie Lynner is a professor of law at Drake University Law School. She teaches in the area of wills and trusts, property, and tax and her primary research interests include digital asset succession, property rights, and state intestacy laws.

This was the fourth of five events in The Data Deluge: Privacy in a Connected World series hosted by UW-Superior. The event took place on Friday, March 25, 2022 from 1– 2:30 p.m. in the Jim Dan Hill Library on the Main Floor.

View recordings of previous events on Data After Death with Alexis Elder, How Do We Not Be Facebook? with Dorothea Salo, and Academic Surveillance with Sarah Lamdan.