Code of conduct
From Registration Of Deaths For Online Services
Contents |
About
The code of conduct below is currently in the process of being drafted. Please contribute to it if you have anything helpful to add, or if you spot a typo or a grammatical error! (If you're not sure how to contribute, please visit our help pages.)
Code of conduct for online service providers to follow regarding user deaths
All online service providers
As the provider of an online service, I/we undertake to ensure:
- That each user shall have some option to specify how his/her account should be treated in the event of his/her death.
- That the procedure for confirming to us the death of a user shall be free of charge and straightforward to carry out.
- That the procedure for confirming to us the death of a user will be robust and resistant to abuse.
User subscription-funded online service providers
As the provider of an online service funded by user subscriptions, I/we additionally undertake to ensure:
- That upon confirmation of the death of a user, access to the user's data shall be made available to the user's next of kin and/or the executor of the user's estate for downloading, and this access shall be maintained for at least 56 days (8 full weeks) following such notification.
Ad-funded or otherwise gratis online service providers
As the provider of an online service funded by ads or otherwise free of charge to its users, I/we additionally undertake to ensure:
- That upon confirmation of the death of a user, access to the user's data shall be made available to the user's next of kin and/or the executor of the user's estate for downloading, and this access shall be maintained for as long as the online service continues to exist.
Enforceability
A serious concern relating to the code of conduct is: how is it to be enforced? If an online service provider breaches it, what's to stop them getting away with doing so?
Across many industries, the traditional approach to this sort of problem is to give businesses the benefit of the doubt to begin with: to trust them to honour the codes of conduct to which they have agreed. Only if the failure to do so becomes a widespread or serious problem is it normal for interested parties to seek to transform such voluntary codes of conduct into legislation that can be enforced by a court or a professional body.
In the case of the code of conduct above, it seems prudent to assume good faith in the first instance. The priority is to finish drafting it, and to seek its adoption. Only if, once adopted, online service providers fail to honour it should a stronger enforcement regime be sought.
