趣听精彩世界：亲人离世,网络遗产如何处理?

美国哥伦比亚广播公司：当一个人去世之后，经常是由家人来整理他的遗物。但是，在现在这个数字时代，那些个人邮箱或账户里的遗物是否也应该由家人来整理呢？

网络遗产问题

CBS News: It used to be that when someone died, a loved one would be put in charge of sorting through their personal documents and photographs -- but now, in the digital age, that part of the grieving process is changing.

As one Virginia family found out, loved ones may not be able to access a deceased person's digital information, even if it belonged to a child. After their 15-year-old son took his own life in 2011, the Rash family tried to understand why.

Here is the faster Ricky Rash:

"The law enforcement officer recommended that we get access to his digital accounts, his cell phone, his email and his Facebook account to see if there were any clues. What didn't make sense to us as parents was we couldn't access his accounts as adults and he being a minor.

Rash and his wife Diane sent Facebook a letter explaining the situation, along with a copy of Eric's obituary. They were surprised when the company refused to give them access, citing privacy laws.

Virginia has since passed a law allowing parents access to digital accounts if their child dies. A group of lawyers is working to expand access nationwide. Attorney David Kauffman worked on the proposed law and says that Eric Rash's grieving father is a powerful advocate for the issue.

"Not a lawyer, no agenda. Just simply that he thinks he wants access to learn about his son's life and wanted other people to have the same access if the situation occurred."

Although the Rash family eventually received a CD from Facebook with some information from Eric's profile, they are hoping that each state legislature will consider the proposal.