Défendre les vivants ou les morts ? Controverses sous-jacentes au droit des données post-mortem à travers une perspective comparée franco-américaine

Abstract

To be on the Internet is to exist as a data being constituting profiles that exist alongside the physical individuals and outlive them. In the future, the Internet will therefore contain more post-mortem data than personal data relating to living persons. What should be done with these data? The law has long remained silent on this issue and only covers personal data up to the death of the person concerned. A comparative analysis of the evolution of the law in the United States and in France reveals a difference of perspective leading to two different approaches: one based on the right to privacy and data protection, and the other based on inheritance law, which treats post-mortem data as heritage.