When 1980s pop idol Steve Strange suddenly died, the images and memories on his phone and computer were lost.
Unlike physical photo albums that can be passed on in a will, some precious keepsakes are now stored in a person’s private digital cloud.
Tanya Harrington, the Fade To Gray singer’s sister, receives royalties from Strange’s back catalogue, but she also wants those sentimental, personal pictures that meant so much to her older brother.
She supports a bill that would allow a person’s digital heritage to be passed on to family after their death.
The New Romantic pioneer – real name Stephen Harrington – has had an extensive social media presence, but Tanya worries a wealth of photos and content have been “lost” or “disappeared” in his digital cloud.
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“Steve never had anything in place because he died suddenly,” Tanya said.
“He never arranged anything with me and my mother because he didn’t have the opportunity.
“I keep seeing pictures of Steve on social media and the internet and I wonder what pictures of him have been lost or gone.
“All I have are my own paintings. This is a difficult part of the grieving process. I don’t know any of Steve’s online passwords.”
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Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran and Boy George’s Culture Club were the standard bearers of the New Romantic movement of the late 1970s – but Strange was the “custodian” of this pop culture phenomenon.
Most of these big bands started out in the popular London clubs that Strange ran – like Billy’s, Blitz and Camden Palace – and he was considered the “head boy” of New Romantic.
His new wave band Visage wasn’t the most popular or successful band of the movement – but their 1980 hit Fade to Gray is one of the most famous from that period.
Strange died of a heart attack in 2015 at the age of 55 while on holiday in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, with tributes from Boy George, Duran Duran frontman Simon Le Bon and Spandau Ballet brothers Gary and Martin Kemp.
Digital assets are things like our photos, videos, smart contracts, online shopping accounts, bitcoins and cryptocurrencies – and for many of us, our online world is precious.
But what happens to such assets when someone suddenly dies? Tanya isn’t the only one trying to make sense of the world of digital assets, as lawmakers and tech companies ponder what to do with digital accounts when someone dies.
Tanya supports an MP’s campaign to simplify the “crypto maze” for bereaved families and change the law to ensure executors automatically have the right to access the digital lives of their deceased loved ones.
The second reading of Ian Paisley’s Digital Devices (Access for Next of Kin) Bill will be read in the UK Parliament on Friday and calls for “giving next of kin immediate access without them having to take costly or unsafe legal action against digital platforms”.
Mr Paisley argues that “government needs to bring our laws into the digital century and ensure next of kin are not being blocked by tech companies from accessing their loved one’s materials”.
“They are subject to rules that technology companies set and everyone has different rules for dealing with the dead,” said the MP for North Antrim in Northern Ireland.
“There’s about £25 billion of assets stored on people’s digital devices. This can be something as simple as Air Miles.
“All sorts of things that are valuable and should be part of a person’s estate reside on the cloud, and the next of kin should have instant access to them.”
Meta, the company that owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, said it was “in talks with the government and other stakeholders” to “make these situations less difficult for those involved”.
Meta said its policy is that if it doesn’t “know what the person who died would have wanted, we try to leave the account exactly as that person left it” and offer “memorial” where an account remains, but essentially closed.
The tech giant added that immediate family members can request that a person’s account be removed from Instagram while they’re on Facebook, saying “a legacy contact can be selected to take care of a person’s main profile if it’s in.” memory remains”.
Apple also has a digital legacy tool that allows users to provide up to five contact keys so they can access data on a device if the account holder dies suddenly.
Strange’s family supports reforming the legacy of digital assets, as Tanya says families are “groping in the dark” and “don’t know where to start” when it comes to recovering content from their loved ones’ phones and computers.
“I don’t think it’s fair, so anything that can be done to help the grieving family would help,” said Tanya, who grew up with Steve in Newbridge, Caerphilly County.
She’s also angry that her brother’s iconic image is being used for branding and merchandise — an asset Tanya says is being monetized without her permission.
“Why should people make money off my brother when he’s not here,” she said.
“It makes me angry. They had nothing to do with him.
“Stephen loved his two nephews, both my boys, and would have wanted them to have any assets from his legacy.”
An organization of lawyers, accountants and trustees specializing in wills and estates has urged governments to look into the matter urgently.
“It appears that the status quo is currently lacking and is causing considerable distress to grieving families,” said Step attorney Emily Deane.
The Legal Commission said “legal reform to create legal certainty would provide a strong foundation for the development and adoption of digital assets,” and a consultation paper is expected later this year.
But the shadow digital minister has privacy concerns about unilaterally granting access rights to next of kin.
“I know from my own experience, from my youth, that there are certainly pictures or maybe conversations I’ve had with some people on social media that I’m not particularly keen on making available to my immediate family,” Alex Davies-Jones said , Labor MP from Pontypridd.
“This is a fine balance between having access to digital assets when someone dies and respecting the privacy of the deceased.
“So everyone needs to have a conversation and consider what they want their next of kin to have access to? It is up to the individual to decide.”
The UK government does not support Mr Paisley’s bill, saying it “expects tech companies to have clear guidelines on relatives’ ability to access the personal data of deceased loved ones”.
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