I see no glaring legal or ethical issues if the family is legitimately asking you to investigate.
The only person's rights you would possibly be infringing upon would be the deceased, and the property rights (including all intellectual property) are now in the possession of the family (unless somehow contracted or willed away to someone else).
As for the personal emails that other individuals have sent the deceased, they were voluntarily given to the deceased. If secrets were entrusted to the deceased, I would assume that email would not be a reasonably foreseeable means of keeping those secrets. Further, as far as criminal law goes, a person who gives information voluntarily and willingly given to a third party has no reasonable expectation of privacy (i.e., emails, phone number's dialed, garbage on the street, etc...).
I'm not advocating one way or the other. Have the family pay for a lawyer to do a hour's research if they really want to know.
Slashdot Mirror
I see no glaring legal or ethical issues if the family is legitimately asking you to investigate.
The only person's rights you would possibly be infringing upon would be the deceased, and the property rights (including all intellectual property) are now in the possession of the family (unless somehow contracted or willed away to someone else).
As for the personal emails that other individuals have sent the deceased, they were voluntarily given to the deceased. If secrets were entrusted to the deceased, I would assume that email would not be a reasonably foreseeable means of keeping those secrets. Further, as far as criminal law goes, a person who gives information voluntarily and willingly given to a third party has no reasonable expectation of privacy (i.e., emails, phone number's dialed, garbage on the street, etc...).
I'm not advocating one way or the other. Have the family pay for a lawyer to do a hour's research if they really want to know.