Do you know your digital property rights?
The life cycle of the data does not come to an end when the data owner dies; but these can remain unlimited over time, if said person has not taken into account how to manage their fingerprint in the Network of Networks.
To avoid such a situation, the legislator has introduced a new legal figure known as digital will and that, as such, is not contemplated in our Civil Code. Thus, Organic Law 3/2018, of December 5, on the Protection of Personal Data and guarantee of digital rights, hereinafter LOPDGDD, in its article 96, marks the steps to be followed so that the person who owns the personal data indicates specific guidelines regarding their wishes in relation to their assets and digital assets.
What is the digital will?
The digital will is a document that contains in a precise and concise manner how a natural person wishes their inheritance to be distributed. digital legacy in its absence, due to his death, through his heirs or a digital executor designated for this purpose. Likewise, the LOPDGDD also includes provisions relating to public profiles on the different social networks and the presence of the interested party in the various search engines on the Internet.
What types of digital wills are there?
We find two types of digital wills. On one side, there is the emergency digital will and, on the other hand, the detailed digital will. Regarding the first, as its name indicates, it will cover the most urgent and pressing needs after the death of the testator (such as online banking passwords) and the second will collect all the information in a more detailed and defined way. that he deems useful to carry out his will.
Furthermore, it is advisable that when the interested person has drafted their digital will, they notarize it, after appointing a fiduciary so that he or she can ensure its compliance and send it to his or her heirs without any delay.
Who can access the digital will?
The well-deserved precept 96 establishes a relationship of people who have the right to request access to the information of the deceased person regarding their digital legacy, in addition to deleting said content, unless said person has expressly prohibited it.
What kind of digital assets can I include in my will?
In this sense, there is no numerus clausus of digital assets or online assets to be able to include in the will. Thus, the following are proposed: social network profiles (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn) and their passwords, cryptocurrencies, bank accounts, web domains, subscription services to digital platforms, mobile and email passwords, cloud services, blogs, channel YouTube, Twich, content generated by influencers (videos, photos), NFT (Non Fungible Token) content, hardware (hard drives, USB, PC...)
Conclusions
While it is true that post-mortem management through digital will is a right enshrined in data protection regulations, comparable to other rights, such as those included in articles 15 to 22 of the General Data Protection Regulation, there are still great challenges that legal reality imposes on us in our daily life; such as the absence of a global registry of digital wills with national and/or cross-border access or the lack of international treaties where all the aforementioned issues are specifically covered and whose main objective is to safeguard the privacy and honor of the deceased, guaranteeing that your will is reliably fulfilled and thus closing the cycle in the life of personal data.
