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Digital Is Forever
The world's Web users have been acquiring an ever-expanding pile of online assets, including e-mail accounts, blogs and videogame avatars. Yet one key concern regarding online assets remains unanswered: How will these virtual assets be passed down after their original owners die, and who is eligible to inherit them?
Protecting Digital Afterlife

At present, China does not have any laws governing the protection of virtual assets or even a clear definition of what they are. Recent controversies over the inheritance of online profiles trigger heated debates among Chinese netizens on several major social networking sites
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Easy Come, Easy Go?
Many people take advantage of microblogging, especially for commercial purposes. There are no rules for punishing people or companies who fail to fulfill their promises
Security and Insecurity in Cyberspace
Cyberspace is an important part of the global community. To build cyber security, the world must implement certain rules, the first rule being international cooperation
Background
Policies on Users' Digital Heritage
Facebook profiles can be switched to "memorial" mode when an individual dies

Under Twitter's Deceased Policy, released August 2010, if Twitter is notified that a user has passed away, it can remove the deceased person's account or assist family members in saving a backup of his or her public Tweets

Yahoo will not grant relatives access to deceased users' accounts without there is a court order from a judge

Google says that "in rare cases," it may be able to provide the Gmail account content to an authorized representative of a deceased user

Hotmail requires heirs to send the company an e-mail to request the preservation of the e-mail content for a deceased user's account  
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- Micro-blogging in China
- Cyber Life
- Paperless Book Reading
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