Families locked out of dead relatives' phones face 'grisly problem' accessing fingerprint, FaceID
CTV
In funeral homes across Toronto, there’s a growing dilemma facing staff: the digital remnants of a deceased person's life are trapped behind the lock screen of the phone they left behind, and a fingerprint or face scan is the family’s last hope for access before the body is buried.
In funeral homes across Toronto, there’s a growing dilemma facing staff: the digital remnants of a deceased person's life are trapped behind the lock screen of the phone they left behind, and a fingerprint or face scan is the family’s last hope for access before the body is buried.
Passcodes, in many cases, were never communicated to the people managing the estate, and whether it is to salvage family photos or disarm the security system of the home they now need to access, executors are hoping to break in with biometrics.
“The frequency is certainly increasing,” technology analyst Carmi Levy told CTV News Toronto.
“The last resort for a family member often is [to] go to the funeral home, get an image of the body, and then gain access to the systems. It’s a grisly problem.”
But it’s also a practical problem for families overseeing end-of-life affairs if their loved one’s life was tied to technology and organized by apps.
One funeral director told CTV News Toronto he receives a few requests a month from executors trying to retrieve camera roll photos, access digital documents, and more.
“Whenever it happens, I know that funeral service providers will do whatever they can to ensure that they help the families to the best of their ability,” Allan Cole, president of the Funeral Association of Canada, said.
