If a person dies, then that person’s property and belongings go to the legal heir. It can be the nominee or a close relative of the deceased. But what about digital data? Who becomes the owner of digital data after a person dies? Addressing this complex topic, the Gandhinagar court has given a historic verdict that can help solve future legal issues regarding digital inheritance.
The court gave a verdict stating that a person’s data uploaded to Apple devices, iPhones, and iCloud accounts is also a part of inherited property, and the heirs have the legal right to claim it.
According to the details, a case was filed in the Gandhinagar court in which, after a person died, his family needed access to family photographs, videos, important documents, and voice notes stored on the deceased person’s phone. But due to the privacy settings in the system, they were unable to access it. The family approached tech giant Apple to get the data, but the request was denied based on the company’s privacy policy.
At last, to get the data, the family filed a case under the Indian Succession Act in the Gandhinagar court to seek justice.
In the verdict, the court emphasized that in today’s digital world, a person’s whole life revolves around digital systems. Thus, after his or her death, the data also becomes property and can be legally inherited. The court stated that this is not just emotionally important, but also very significant because it can include digital assets such as cryptocurrency and other digital financial assets.
The court also ordered tech giant Apple to provide all necessary technical assistance to hand over the complete data to the legal heirs of the deceased person.
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