The untimely demise of Justin Ellsworth, a United States of America Marine, prompted a concern about the overall privacy of users’ online email accounts, as Ellsworth’s wished to access the deceased Yahoo e-mail account. (Leach, 2005) However, the terms of service agreement of Yahoo prevent the transferal of email accounts to third party, a method to ensure the confidentiality and privacy of all users. Due to the contractual agreement with Justin Ellsworth, Yahoo refused and denied all formal request for the publication of Ellsworth emails, although the parents felt they possess inherent right to all the belongings of Ellsworth, including his email. After petition the court systems, Ellsworth parents were granted a court order for the access into Justin’s email account, and Yahoo complied with the judge’s order, providing the parents all email correspondence. (Hu, 2004) The release of the correspondence leads to question of “Was Yahoo right for releasing the correspondence up court order” or “Was Yahoo wrong for releasing the email correspondence.” In the end, Yahoo confirm to the court order making the right choice in a business aspect, and fulfilling the deontological rights of the parents, granted by the juridical branch, but still failed to uphold Ellsworth right to privacy.
