Should One Be Able to Inherit Digital Content?

Of course, we're alive and we're enjoying the expansive amounts of goods that can be delivered on-demand. E-books, music, media, and other things coded - digitally - that we, in a sense own.

Now, of course, what if we die? We can leave physical books, physical music, DV Ds, and physical money to our descendants.

Should we allow our digitalised collections to be handed down the generations, or, for example, our Amazon gift vouchers or iTunes accounts to be given to our offspring once we become one with the Earth?

As of yet, there are ambiguous T&Cs of sites that give us our content on the inheritance, so should this change?

OF course one should be able to inherit said content.

But such a legal figure ( the inheretance of conceptual property) isnt anything but a really stupid outcome of some very questionable laws about the lenght of intelectual property which, in the case of copyright (and not patents which are a different matter) should last something like 20 years. If such was the case, then, most digital content, I would guess, would not be inherited since it would already be in the public domain, or the time in which it would do so would be reasonable enough to avoid said cumbersome civilistic nightmare.

I mean... can you imagine?? "And I william the III legate my right to listen to the beatle´s song here by listed to my 3 sons who will each split the rights to hear each individual songs in equal parts..."

edited 20th Feb '12 7:21:11 AM by Baff

I don't think digital content will typically last more than one lifetime. The whole everything is permanent on the Internet thing is a ridiculous futurist overstatement; it can only be counted on to apply to things that were very scandalous at the time.

Of course technological obsolescense is a big problem that will proabably render the matter mute (can you say, computational archeologism anyone??)

But when you buy a song you are aquiring the rights to hear it so, if you buy a game and later download it from a torrent, your arent really violating any law unless said content had an specific date of expiration.

edited 20th Feb '12 7:23:23 AM by Baff

Provided you had this digital content saved onto something that a person can actually own, like a computer or an iPad, then I would say that yes, you can inherit that. It comes with the computer.

Things like iTunes account are a stupid thing to inherit, though. That's like saying, "hey, I should inherit this account I never paid for, and I probably have one of my own already to begin with." The music saved to the computer, sure, the account itself, no. That seems like a good way to start on identity fraud, frankly. I assume by gift vouchers you mean a gift card, which can basically be used by anyone.

edited 20th Feb '12 10:40:05 AM by AceofSpades

I thought you typically don't own digital content in the first place, you just own the license to use it.

That's correct, pagad, you can find that in just about any EULA. Look in the back of your nearest video game manual. Chances are that none of us here technically legally owns a single piece of software that we didn't design ourselves.

Technically, there is debate as to weather First Sale Doctrine [1] applies or not.

Regardless it's safe to say corporations will tell you that you don't own any of their software.

But whether the law agrees it a more complicated matter, if I've read your article right.

edited 21st Feb '12 2:16:09 AM by Medinoc

I'd like to point out that inheriting things like an iTunes account is a good way for those companies to try and gauge you money for something you might not want, by the way. There's a reason why things like that should be canceled with a person's death.

Yet physical copies and books are inherited. What makes digital copies, or licenses so special that they shouldn't?

Well, one, it's basically an account in a person's name. Chances are, if you want a thing like this, you get one for yourself which makes inheriting it rather pointless. And again, a company can attempt to price gauge you for it. Really, I just don't see the point of it.

Edit: It is also a contract between a specific person and a company, I think. Should private contracts be inheritable?

edited 21st Feb '12 10:43:04 AM by AceofSpades

I think the problem's bigger with games, as more and more of them are adding in stuff like profiles, personal inventories, persistent stats and such. That could technically have some worth, but transfer of digital content is a tricky matter, but it has more to do with copyright law.

Yeah, a lot of the issue is coming from the clients that hire the developers wanting to either DLC half the game or push their own social networking scheme.

The thing is, a lot of the profile stuff is on their own server, so even if a court was nice enough to rule your physical copy of the game legally "yours", you have no say over the remote data you're actually doing stuff with.

edited 21st Feb '12 5:48:34 PM by Pykrete

I suppose, though, that a company that makes digital stuff (games, music, whatever) could set up a policy, with proper channels and such to dictate that, if you are confirmed to be dead, that the people in your will will get your digital stuff.

This has some logistical problems (mainly, setting up a system to make sure it doesn't get exploited), but it's an interesting idea.

Meh. I guess I'm in the "get your own" camp for digital content. It's not like it's rare if it's digital content, the way physical things can become.

This is a relevant, insightful link, I think. Kind of have to question their case for Maslow's Hierarchy, but aside from that.

Technically, they already can be...

Granted, most of those contracts involve tangible items(like cars and their loans, or houses with mortgages). Where the person who inherits the item can choose to not take it. But if they do, they accept the burden of paying off the rest of the debt...

If one were to claim that the I-tunes music was "tangible"(like the music CD no one would ever prevent you from inheriting) then a case could be made that an I-tunes account can be inherited by someone, so long as the person receiving it is willing to continue the payments...

But that'd be a given, though, wouldn't it? You inherit your descendants' debt anyway, so that's to be expected.

You mean ancestor's debt. And debt is usually for something necessary to live, like house payments or medical bills. An iTunes account and the like usually aren't, and are a very different beast.

If you end up inheriting a license, I think it makes perfect sense.

I'm going to inherit some stock in some companies.

I want my own stock, shouldn't I get my own?

Whoops, blame that on a mental slip-up there. But surely stuff like an iTunes account would be tied to credit card debts, which ARE inherited, right?

In a sense, wouldn't the company owe the dead holder?

The person who owns the license is entitled to a certain number of plays on an MP 3, if I remember how iTunes works, so I guess the balance might be owed to the heir, if they don't want the remainder of the plays.

Well, that depends on how current the hypothetical dead person was with their bill payments. In any case, I don't think things like iTunes accounts are transferable, for reasons of companies wanting to be sure that who they're doing business with is who they say they are.

I mean, in a way this sounds like asking to have someone's library card transferred to you. It's not that hard to get your own library card if you want it that bad. If you want the stuff on someone's iTunes account, chances are you have it in some form for yourself already.

Publishers get away with end user license agreements because no-one has ever really decided to take legal action at a high enough level to thwart them. I had to edit what I really thought about those profiting from creation of art yet having no other input into it other than paying pitifully small amounts of money to the creators for that art, especially in comparison to what they rake in from its sale. Bruce Springsteen is rich, his record label boss is wealthy.

To answer the question posed by the O.P. Yep. We should have the right both to inherit and bequest digital content. I can give physical copy of a book, which I paid for, to my dad and no-one bats an eyelash. Why should digital content providers get away with being treated differently?