The easiest way to obtain passwords from websites, email providers and services in this case (and many other cases;) would be to hijack the Firefox and Thunderbird profiles, or equivalent, if the subject used something else for browsing/email. That way you not only get the stored passwords (most of the people store their passwords in these apps without a master password), but you also hijack their active sessions and cookies. Even if he didn't store his passwords, he probably didn't bother to clear all cookies before committing suicide.
That being said, I think it's pretty ethically correct to do the family's will and give them the access they want to their son's information. Still I'm not sure how much his family will benefit from this information and if they're not better off without digging through his personal stuff now.
Slashdot Mirror
The easiest way to obtain passwords from websites, email providers and services in this case (and many other cases;) would be to hijack the Firefox and Thunderbird profiles, or equivalent, if the subject used something else for browsing/email. That way you not only get the stored passwords (most of the people store their passwords in these apps without a master password), but you also hijack their active sessions and cookies. Even if he didn't store his passwords, he probably didn't bother to clear all cookies before committing suicide. That being said, I think it's pretty ethically correct to do the family's will and give them the access they want to their son's information. Still I'm not sure how much his family will benefit from this information and if they're not better off without digging through his personal stuff now.