Karen Williams' Facebook Saga Raises Question Of Whether Users' Profiles Are Part Of 'Digital Estates'

LINCOLN, Nebraska (AP) — When Karen Williams' son died in a motorcycle crash, the U.S. woman turned to his Facebook account in hopes of learning more about him.

Williams found his password and emailed the company, asking administrators to maintain 22-year-old Loren Williams' account so she could look through his posts and comments by his friends. But within two hours, she said, Facebook changed the password, blocking her efforts.

"I wanted full and unobstructed access, and they balked at that," said Williams, recalling her son's death in 2005. "It was heartbreaking. I was a parent grasping at straws to get anything I could get."

Now lawmakers and attorneys in at least two U.S. states are considering proposals that would require Facebook and other social networks to grant access to loved ones when a family member dies, essentially making the site contents part of a person's digital estate. The issue is increasingly important as people record more online and more disputes break out over that material.

Williams ultimately got back into her son's account, but it took a lawsuit and a two-year legal battle that ended with Facebook granting her 10 months of access before her son's page was removed.

Nebraska is reviewing legislation modeled after a law in Oklahoma, which last year became the first state to take action.

"Mementos, shoeboxes with photos. That, we knew how to distribute once someone passed away," said Ryan Kiesel, a former legislator who wrote the Oklahoma law. "We wanted to get state law and attorneys to begin thinking about the digital estate."

Under Facebook's current policy, deaths can be reported in an online form. When the site learns of a death, it puts that person's account in a memorialized state. Certain information is removed, and privacy is restricted to friends only. The profile and wall are left up so friends and loved ones can make posts in remembrance.

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