Study On The Inheritance Of Network Account

Information technology and mobile devices develop data to a new level,while the boundary between real world virtual world is getting blurred.The online account also condenses the user’s time,energy,and funds,and enters people’s sight as a new type of property.With the increasing number of disputes over online accounts and other virtual properties,China has paid more to the protection of data and virtual properties.Article 127 of the General principles of civil law of the People’s Republic of China promulgated in 2017 stipulates that "Where the law has provisions on the protection of data or online virtual assets,follow those provisions".The Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China that took effect in 2021 retains this provision.This article points out the general direction of virtual property protection.However,at present,in addition to the service regulations for Internet companies and some regulations related to network security,there are no other specific rules on the protection of virtual property in China.In judicial practice,courts at all levels have not yet formed a unified opinion on the handling of cases involving online accounts,while the most acute contradiction is the issue of inheritance and ownership of online accounts.There are countless online accounts in the virtual world,but not all online accounts need to be protected.Some online accounts that are not bound to personal information and contain low value do not need to be protected.To understand the legal right of account online,divided them into different part,in order to solve the problem of account Inheritance.In addition,as a new type of property,online accounts need to be judged on their legal attributes.The main viewpoints of the theoretical circle are divided into the theory of property rights,the theory of creditor’s rights,and the theory of intellectual property rights.But as far as the current situation is concerned,the theory of property rights should be the theory most in line with online accounts.Regarding the issue of online account inheritance,many Internet companies currently make claims in their service agreements that the online account is owned by the company,and users only have the right to use it.Although Internet companies have invested a lot of costs,the functions of online accounts also rely on servers behind each platform.However,the specific value of the account must be reflected through the user’s long-term use,and online account is different with computer program.Therefore,the online account should be owned by the user and allowed to be inherited by the heir.Because the virtual property accumulated by users in the network account makes it difficult to separate the two,it forms the attachment in the attachment system.For reasons of economic utility,the two should not be separated again.In addition,from a technical point of view,Internet companies already have the technology to transfer virtual properties,and online accounts and their virtual properties can also be inherited in a more appropriate way.However,this method is not necessarily suitable for all online accounts,and existing carriers cannot protect all virtual properties.In addition,the clause prohibiting the transfer of online accounts in the "User Agreement" undoubtedly restricts the user’s property rights.And privacy should not be an obstacle to the inheritance of online accounts.In summary,online accounts are inheritable.Finally,the inheritance of online accounts requires the cooperation of many parties.Legally,it is necessary to determine who inherits the online account to maximize the role of the online account according to the type of the online account,and cannot limit the inheritance subject to the close relatives;secondly,due to the property of the online account data is easy to change,In order to avoid the loss of the account value,the inheritance process should be complete as soon as possible.As for the Internet companies,they play an important role in inheritance activities.They not only need to review the inheritance process,but also need to provide related services to the heirs.At the same time,the establishment of a third-party valuation system for online accounts and online account custody services are also important measures to cooperate in completing account inheritance.