Misuse of Technology.

Reading through one of my course mates, Megan Lim's blog, one of her postings "Facebook Status: Deceased", she has mentioned that one of her tutors has recently brought up an issue that a deceased friend’s facebook account who was apparently being used by the deceased’s family member. The tutor and her group of friends are receiving notifications from the deceased friend and they are finding the notifications from somewhat disturbing. Megan's immediate reactions to this issue was that of misuse or that of identity theft. She google searched for more information and found 3 main ways to go about the issue. Below are the information that she has posted up which I personally thought was really useful and everyone should be aware of it!

"1. Memorialising Accounts.

I was surprised to find a ‘Memorialization’ option for a deceased person’s facebook account. wow! We could actually report to facebook on a facebook user’s death. This was something new to me. Here is a list of what happens when a facebook user’s account is ‘memorialised‘ from this Facebook FAQ page for Deactivating, Deleting & Memorialising AccountsWhen a person passes away, we memorialize their account to protect their privacy. Here are some of the key features of memorialized accounts:
No one can log into a memorialized account and no new friends can be accepted
Depending on the privacy settings of the deceased person’s account, friends can share memories on the memorialized timeline. Anyone can send private messages to the deceased person
Content the deceased person shared (ex: photos, posts) remains on Facebook and is visible to the audience it was shared with. Memorialized timelines don’t appear in People You May Know and other suggestions
Creating a timeline in remembrance of an already deceased person is not allowed. We encourage you to create a Page to do this. Learn how to request the memorialization of a deceased person’s account.

2. Deletion of Account.

Alternatively if having access digital footprints and memories of their loved ones is too hard to bear, immediate family members may request for permanent deletion of the deceased’s facebook account. Here is a link to it ‘Special Request for Deceased Person’s Account’.

3. Leaving Passwords to Account.

There is also a ‘trend’ of leaving Facebook Passwords in Wills as the Will creator sometimes would like families to access personal or family digital photos and videos that they do not have in print. You can read more about it in this article ‘People Are Starting To Leave Their Facebook Passwords In Their Will'  by Davis October 13, 2011.

This has reminded me of an article that I've previously read,

"According to lawyer Robert Allard, 15-year-old Audrie Pott hanged herself last September after students shared photos showing her being sexually assaulted during a party on cell phones and online.
News of the arrest in connection to Pott's alleged sexual assault comes just days after a 17-year-old Canadian girl committed suicide after being allegedly raped Like in Audrie's case, Rehtaeh Parsons' alleged attackers also took pictures of the rape and circulated them around school. The girl's parents say the once-popular and confident teen became the target of relentless bullying and name-calling, which continued even after her death".

Links to Audrie and Retaeh's stories:
Audrie Pott

Rehtaeh Parsons

The community, especially younger generation should be taught not only how to use technology but also to use it wisely as everyone should understand that the misuse of technology can cause harm and even death!!