Kiyoshi Murata    Department   Undergraduate School  , School of Commerce    Position   Professor
Language	English
Publication Date	2014/06
Type	International Conference
Peer Review	Peer reviewed
Title	Privacy after Death
Contribution Type	Co-authored (first author)
Journal	Proceedings of ETHICOMP 2014
Journal Type	Another Country
Volume, Issue, Page	pp.1-9
Author and coauthor	Kiyoshi Murata and Yohko Orito
Details	This study attempts to examine the (un)necessity, (un)importance and (im)possibility of conceptualising the right to privacy of the deceased and its implication for people living in the age of digital immortality or e-mmortality. Legally, the dead almost universally have little, if any, right of privacy. However, if many people regard the importance of protecting privacy and/or personal data of deceased people as quite natural, and if the protection of decedents' privacy promotes human welfare, privacy after death is worth considering. Because people's views of life and death and thus of rights of the dead is inevitably affected, especially, by religious and cultural elements, this study is conducted with taking into account the Japanese religious and cultural environment. The outcomes of theoretical considerations, literature research and a questionnaire survey conducted in this study seem to show that in Japan there are social expectations that the right to privacy of the deceased should be established and the protection of it has a significant meaning not only for the dignity of the dead but for the happiness of the living.