Deceased soldiers' e-mail accounts raise Internet privacy issues

From washingtonpost.com: The parents of a soldier who was killed in Iraq will not be able to access their son?s e-mail account or his Web site?s data. While serving in Iraq, 20-year-old Marine Corps reservist Karl Linn sent e-mails and posted photos on his Web site. After Linn was killed last week his parents contacted e-mail and Web hosting company Mailbank.com Inc. in order to preserve their son?s digital legacy. But Mailbank.com will not provide access to passwords or to unpublished data stored on their servers, although they will help families retrieve data that is already public.

The Linns? case is not unique. The Michigan family of another Marine who died in November in Iraq has hired a lawyer to work with Yahoo to gain access to their son?s e-mail account. And the Pennsylvania family of an Army soldier who died in January has thus far not gained access to their son?s LiveJournal.com blog.