BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk// X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Death 2.0: What Becomes of Digital Assets after Death?"\; - Pr ofessor Lilian Edwards\, Department of Law\, University of Sheffield DTSTART:20100601T170000Z DTEND:20100601T181500Z UID:TALK24977@talks.cam.ac.uk CONTACT:Professor John Naughton DESCRIPTION:*Abstract*\n\nDeath seems to be discussed in web 2.0 circles o nly when it is tragic (eg internet suicide clusters) or in some other news worthy (eg the Lori Drew online harassment case ). Yet if Facebook alone c laim some 400 \nmillion subscribers\, then it stands to reason that some o f them will be reaching their final end as I write in quite ordinary ways. Yet the law is vague in the extreme (and varies from jurisdiction to juri sdiction) \non who would "own" a user's Facebook profile in that sad event \; and more significantly\, what rights either the deceased or the heirs m ight have against Facebook to demand that the profile be deleted\, maintai ned as a \ngoing concern\, exported or preserved("memorialised"). Nor is this problem confined to Facebook. Digital assets will be increasingly imp ortant as items in succession - and as cultural heritage - as the web \n2. 0 generation ages\; and might include not only profiles on social networki ng sites\, but also reputations and identities on money-making sites like eBay\, photos on sites like Flickr and even user preferences on sites like Last.fm. Yet so far little or no attention has been paid to the legal nat ure and transmission of digital assets\, except within the limited (if gla morous) domain of virtual property in virtual worlds and MMORPGs. Neither are all digital assets likely to fall into categories of recognisable inte llectual property (IP) protection. This paper seeks to investigate this d omain\, having regard to the interests of user\, relatives\, platform and especially\, the public interest in preservation of online cultural herit age.\n\n*About the speaker*\n\nProfessor Edwards's principal research inte rests are in the law relating to the Internet\, the Web and new technologi es\, with a European and comparative focus. She has co-edited three bestse lling collections on _Law and the Internet_ (Hart Publishing\, 1997\, 2000 and 2009) with Charlotte Waelde\, and a third collection of essays -- _Th e New Legal Framework for E-Commerce_ -- in Europe was published in 2005. Her work in on-line consumer privacy won the Barbara Wellbery Memorial Pri ze in 2004 for the best solution to the problem of privacy and transglobal data flows. She worked at Strathclyde University from 1986-1988 and Edinb urgh University from 1989 to 2006 before moving to become Chair of Interne t Law at Southampton from 2006-2008. She is Associate Director\, and was c o-founder\, of the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Centre for IP and Technology Law\, funded from 2002-2012. She has taught IT\, e-comme rce and Internet law at undergraduate and postgraduate level since 1996 an d been involved with law and artificial intelligence (AI) since 1985. She has been a visiting scholar and invited lecturer to universities in the US A\, Canada\, Australia\, Mexico\, and Latin America and has undertaken con sultancy for the the European Parliament\, the European commission and McA fee.\n LOCATION:Wolfson College\, Old Combination Room (OCR) END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR