Alexander: Who controls your Facebook page if you die?

Article by: STEVE ALEXANDER , Star Tribune
Updated: January 24, 2012 - 4:41 PM

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purppride1Jan. 24, 1210:22 PM

So, I have a very common name, Chris Thompson. What if some distant friend saw an obituary for a different Chris Thompson? The "can't be undone" thing is concerning in the event of a mistake...

jamue11eJan. 24, 1211:07 PM

Maybe the niece should have checked first what the parents wanted to do, instead of acting on her own and not even considering the parents. I know a few friends who have died who's family have kept the facebook page as is, not in memorial status. Just for those reasons.

fuhrmannJan. 25, 12 8:31 AM

Chris: I didn't see where they said it couldn't be undone. In the case of a mistaken (or somone being malicious), you could probably get control back by showing that "the rumnors of your death have been greatly exagerated". ............................................................................................................................................................................... In this case, the death was real and Facebook followed their written policy.

purppride1Jan. 25, 12 2:00 PM

Fuhr: last paragraph of the reader's portion of the story: "I have contacted Facebook twice about this situation and all I received was an automated response that once a page has been placed in memorial status it cannot be changed back. What can we do?"

ehenlyJan. 25, 12 4:04 PM

So what (if anything) about the FB profile remains active? If someone I know dies and the profile is placed in memrial status, and I am going through old college photos and say "gee, people who knew Frank would really like to see him in this picture" can I still tag him in the photo?

livefreeordJan. 25, 12 6:04 PM

It is against federal law to impersonate someone by using their ID and password. It makes sense to me that when Facebook receives notice that someone has passed, that they would change the status of the account to inactivate the ID. The implementation of the memorial status could be questioned, but not the fact that the account is placed into this status. It would make sense that someone such as the deceased parents or children could be designated as a moderator and it could continue to be live in a way. Still, it's Facebook's site and they have the right to implement it as they see fit.