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Who is allowed to read through your e-mails – or update your Facebook page – when you die? In many states across the U.S., there are no clear answers to such basic legal questions.

That’s why Cynthia Creem, along with numerous other policy-makers nationwide, is fighting to bring clarity to the high-tech confusion. A Massachusetts state senator, Creem proposed a bill this year that would give executors access to email accounts of the deceased. “You would certainly have access to somebody’s desk,” Creem says. “Why should this be any different?” Her bill would make Massachusetts the sixth state to put a “digital asset” law on the books. But tech companies are wary of new privacy-related legislation—and in this case, Google hired a lobbyist to oppose it.

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