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In the digital, virtual, online world we live in, account passwords both protect and frustrate our access to valuable intangible assets.
As more of our valuables consist of intangible digital assets and accounts stored online, the troublesome issue of access to these intangible assets is one of ever growing importance.
Let us consider what we can do to safeguard future access to our digital assets and online accounts by enabling persons we trust to access them should we become incapacitated and when we die.
First, what is a digital asset?
“A digital asset is any item of text or media that has been formatted into a binary source that includes the right to use it. … .” (van Niekerk, A.J. 2006)
Common examples of digital assets are online bank accounts, e-mail accounts, electronic media, online blogs, online shopping accounts (e.g., Pay-Pal and E-bay), and online social media (e.g., Facebook).
Nowadays, with many people spending so much of their time and efforts online, they are creating important digital assets and accounts; assets that their families will want to access after their death.
We have all heard about the families of deceased veterans who wanted to access a deceased soldier’s private e-mail accounts for sentimental and family reasons.
These families were forced to sue Internet giants like Facebook, Google and Yahoo! in order to overcome obstacles regarding access by others when an account owner dies.
So why are such companies unwilling to allow families and even executors access to a decedent’s account?
The reason is the 1986 federal Stored Communications Act (18 USC section 2702). It protects an account owner’s privacy (above all else) and makes it a crime for third parties, such as Facebook or Google, to give access to anyone else, without authorization from the account holder, to a portal through which electronic communication is provided.
So what can we do?
First, we can inventory all of our online accounts, passwords, and encryption protocols so that our agents, and whoever administers our estate, have password access.
Nowadays there are even companies that provided “digital password vaults” where all of one’s account information can be stored in one place.
Much grief and trouble can be avoided simply by having inventoried our accounts and their passwords and making that inventory available to necessary parties.
Naturally, there are some digital assets that are highly personal, perhaps including one’s Facebook account or an online blog that one may not wish to have accessed by anyone else after death.
With respect to these assets, one may decide not to share the account password and inquire with the online company regarding destruction of the contents after death.
Second, subject to limitations imposed by end user license agreements of the online company that has custody of the digital asset, we can assign ownership to some of our digital assets to the trustee of our living trust and/or include special provisions within our powers of attorney and our wills that give the agent and executor power to access these digital assets.
Third, we can be selective as to which online companies we use. Read each company’s End User License Agreement (“EULA”) and Terms of Use. The agreements of Google, Facebook and Yahoo! vary significantly from each other.
These license agreements control the terms of release of the contents of an account, access to an account, and transfer of an account through probate.
Our digital assets and accounts comprise our digital estate. As discussed, the intangible digital estate is subject to very different rules than those that control our traditional tangible assets. Different problems and different safeguards are required to protect our interests and loved ones.
Dennis A. Fordham, attorney (LL.M. tax studies), is a State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Probate and Trust Law. His office is at 870 S. Main St., Lakeport, California. Fordham can be reached by e-mail at
The Andromeda Galaxy is surrounded by a swarm of small satellite galaxies. Researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute, among others, have detected a stream of stars in one of the Andromeda Galaxy's outer satellite galaxies, a dwarf galaxy called Andromeda II.
The movement of the stars tells us that what we are observing is the remnant of a merger between two dwarf galaxies. Mergers between galaxies of such low mass has not been observed before.
The results are published in the scientific journal, Nature.
The galaxies in the early universe started off small and the theory of the astronomers is that the baby galaxies gradually grew larger and more massive by constantly colliding with neighbouring galaxies to form new, larger galaxies.
Large, massive galaxies constantly attract smaller galaxies due to gravity and they eventually merge together and grow even larger.
But not all of the small galaxies are being 'eaten' by the large galaxies. Some of them remain in an orbit around the large galaxy.
The largest galaxy in our cosmic neighborhood is the Andromeda Galaxy, which is about 2.3 million light years away. Like our own galaxy, the Milky Way, Andromeda is a large spiral galaxy.
Swarm of small galaxies
Andromeda is surrounded by a swarm of small galaxies – astronomers have counted more than 20. They have names like Andromeda I, II, III, IV...etc.
Researchers from the Dark Cosmology Centre at the Niels Bohr Institute, among others, have analyzed measurements of the stars in the dwarf galaxy Andromeda II and made a surprising discovery.
“Stars in a dwarf galaxy often move around at random, but this is not exactly the case for Andromeda II. In particular we could see that a stream of stars is moving around differently than the rest in a very coherent way. These stars are situated in an almost complete ring and are rotating around the centre of the galaxy,” explained astrophysicist Nicola C. Amorisco, Dark Cosmology Centre, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen.
Cosmic collisions
The dwarf galaxy Andromeda II is very small – less than one percent of the Milky Way. The rotating stream of stars in the galaxy is entirely made up of old stars and from their properties, researchers can draw conclusions about this dramatic cosmic event.
“What we are seeing is the remains of a collision between two dwarf galaxies, which had a dramatic effect on the dynamics of the remnant,” said Amorisco.
He explains that mergers between such small galaxies are expected during the galaxy formation process, but are rare at present times and had hitherto not been seen. Andromeda II is the least massive known example of merging of galaxies so far and illustrates the scale-free character og the formation og galaxies down to the lowest galactic mass scales.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – A Lakeport man was arrested this week while at a probation-related meeting for drugs and a probation violation.
Vince Edward Mussat, 34, was arrested on Thursday, according to Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen.
Rasmussen said Lakeport Police officers have been investigating Mussat, who is on probation in Lake County due to a prior drug violation.
Officers developed information that Mussat was involved in illegal drug activity at his residence, located in the 100 block of N. Polk Street.
At 7:10 p.m. Thursday Lakeport Police officers were monitoring Mussat’s residence to conduct a search, Rasmussen said.
At the same time a Lake County Sheriff’s deputy, who was aware of the Lakeport Police Department’s pending action, located Mussat and his vehicle at the Hill Road Alternative Work Program building, where it was believed that Mussat was present for a probation-related supervision program.
Rasmussen said the deputy notified Lakeport Police officers, who responded to the location along with the assistance of a California State Parks officer.
A probation search of Mussat’s vehicle was conducted and controlled substance paraphernalia was located, Rasmussen said.
Lakeport Police arrested Mussat for possession of controlled substance paraphernalia and violation of probation and booked him into the Lake County Correctional Facility, according to Rasmussen.
At approximately 8:25 p.m. Thursday, Lakeport Police officers and California State Parks officers conducted a probation search of Mussat’s residence, Rasmussen said.
Rasmussen said that during the search officers located .45 grams of methamphetamine, 7.6 grams of concentrated cannabis and 264.75 grams of marijuana.
Mussat was additionally charged with felony possession of concentrated cannabis, felony possession of a controlled substance and misdemeanor possession of over 28.5 grams of marijuana, Rasmussen said.
Mussat has numerous prior arrests for controlled substance violations, Rasmussen added.
He remained in custody without bail on Friday, with a March 10 court date, according to jail records.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Authorities are continuing to look for a Cobb man alleged to have assaulted another man with a hatchet last month.
Sheriff's officials said Nicholas James Thomas, 29, hit a man in the head with a hatchet on Feb. 22 during a confrontation in the area of Forest Lake Drive in Cobb, as Lake County News has reported.
The male assault victim had attempted to intervene when he saw Thomas arguing with a woman, and chasing after her, yelling obscenities and becoming aggressive toward her, according to the sheriff's office report.
Thomas told the victim to stay out of his business before hitting him in the head with the hatchet. The sheriff's office said Thomas then walked off.
Since he walked away from the scene, Thomas has managed to elude law enforcement, according to Lt. Steve Brooks.
Brooks said Thomas currently has two arrest warrants in the system. The first warrant is for a battery which happened prior to the hatchet incident; the bail on that warrant is $10,000.
The second warrant is for the Feb. 22 assault with a deadly weapon – specifically, the hatchet – with bail on that warrant set at $250,000, Brooks said.
“When he is caught he will have to bail on both of the warrants,” Brooks added.
The sheriff's office said Thomas is considered armed and dangerous and should not be approached.
Anyone with information as to Thomas’ whereabouts is asked to contact the Lake County Sheriff’s Office at 707-263-2690.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Sudden oak death has been confirmed in Trinity County, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
Trinity County is now the 15th California county known to have sudden oak death, the California Department of Food and Agriculture, or CDFA, reported.
The other counties are Alameda, Contra Costa, Humboldt, Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Monterey, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano and Sonoma.
Phytophthora ramorum, the pathogen known to cause sudden oak death, was first found by UC Cooperative Extension, Humboldt and Del Norte County personnel less than 600 yards over the Humboldt County line into Trinity County on an 80-acre Bureau of Land Management parcel adjacent to the Six Rivers National Forest.
The nearest known infestation is 0.4 miles west in Humboldt County.
Infected California bay laurel and tanoak trees, spanning approximately a five-acre area, were identified; however, ground surveys to delineate the actual extent of the infestation will not be conducted until spring 2014, when symptoms will be most advantageous for surveying.
Symptoms found include dead and symptomatic tanoaks as well as heavily symptomatic bay trees. In California, California bay laurel as well as tanoak leaves support pathogen spore production and spread. Tanoak can also die from the infection once it spreads to the tree trunk.
“CDFA has submitted and finalized an emergency regulation change adding Trinity County to California Code of Regulations 3700, Oak Mortality Disease Control,” said Jeff Dolf, Humboldt and Trinity County agricultural commissioner.
As a regulated county, Trinity will be required to follow state and federal quarantine guidelines for the disease.
Sudden oak death is a serious invasive, quarantine disease that is killing tanoak, coast live oak, California black oak, Shreve’s oak and canyon live oak trees in California.
Since its discovery in 2000, more than three million trees have died, making it the number one cause of tree mortality in California coastal forests.
In the last two years alone, more than 500,000 trees have died.
For general information on sudden oak death or the COMTF, go to the task force Web site at www.suddenoakdeath.org .
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Northshore Fire Protection District is planning smoke drills and live fire training over the coming two weekends.
Fire Chief Jay Beristianos said smoke drills will take place in the Upper Lake area all day Saturday, March 8.
On Saturday, March 15, the district will do a live fire training that involves burning down an old house on Pitney Lane in Upper Lake, Beristianos said.