Should Justin Ellsworth’s Parents Have Been Given Access to His Email?

Abstract

The question is, “Should Justin Ellsworth’s parent been given access to his email?” There are many things to consider when asking this question. Did they have the right to see it? Did he want them to see it? How would anyone ever know what his wishes were if they never talked about this subject? Did the parents only want the email to see what he was up to, or his personal thoughts? Would there be something in the e-mail that would make them think differently of their son? Is it legal for the parents to see this email? Is this a violation of privacy and policy? These are all fair questions in an ethical battle such as this one. What kind of stance would you take?

In a perfect world, everyone would be happy with the outcome of any type of conflict morally, or ethically. However, we all have minds, opinions, and that pesky thing called…the law. In the situation of Justin Ellsworth, he didn’t really have a choice at all. He died as an adult, fighting for his country, and his parents wanted access to his personal email. We ask, is this a breech of policy, or is it a right of the parents to see this email because he was their son, and they wanted to know his final thoughts? There are issues here though, that go beyond just what the parents wanted. Issues exist such as whether or not Justin himself would have wanted them to see it, and whether or not the internet provider had to let them see it due to privacy laws. The provider did have a privacy agreement with Justin, regardless if he is dead or alive. There is not a box to click saying “If I die, please allow my family to view my e-mails” on any website I have personally signed up on! I believe that the parents did not have a right to see his e-mail. If he wanted them to see it, he would have given them his password or forwarded his email to them. I say this as a military member, an adult, and a parent. The internet provider had every right to deny access to those emails because Justin believed it would all be private. No one knows what he said, or did on email, and frankly it is no ones business. The consequences of reading others e-mail can be devastating. The parents or spouse (if that is the case) could find out something that is detrimental to the way they view the individual. I understand this gets into another moral question of, “don’t they have the right to know those things,” whatever they may be. I say no, but that is another matter. Let the deceased rest in peace. Many would say that it doesn’t matter now that the person is dead, the family should know the truth about their beloved, but I still feel e-mail is personal, and even though nothing in the email may have been negative it is private, period!
I know I may be getting into what ifs of this case, but people have to consider all angles when asking these types of questions. Fortunately with this specific case, both parties came out pretty well. Yahoo acted accordingly holding up their policies until ordered by the court to provide the parents with the e-mail, and the parents in the end got what they wanted. This satisfies the utilitarian aspect of the whole issue, while the deontological side may have suffered just a bit. Meaning, everyone in the end came out with what they wanted (utilitarian). Now, having said that, the parents really fought for this without weighing the consequences, they just wanted to flex their rights, as did Yahoo for Justin. He had the right to personal email privacy, and they did everything in their will to keep that policy. In the end they had to give up the passwords, but they did fight to keep it private. So technically it all started out deontological but ended up utilitarian for the most part. Even though Yahoo didn’t win the case, they did show their customers they would fight for their rights and privacy.
We as individuals need to make sure our families know our wishes before we die by making a living will or verbally talking to them about these issues. In this day and age of technological advances, we have to remember to address the issues of e-mail, passwords, etc. If we can all take care of these things before something happens to us it, would alleviate court cases such as the one with Yahoo and Justin Ellsworth’s parents. It is unrealistic to think that all people will make sure they have all these things in order when they die, as it happens suddenly in many cases, but, again in a perfect world, everyone would be prepared, and everyone would end up happy. This is not a perfect world.