Facebook to keep profiles of the dead

October 27, 2009 By BARBARA ORTUTAY , AP Technology Writer

(AP) -- Death doesn't erase the online footprints that people leave in life and Facebook won't either, though it will make some changes.

The five-year-old social network will "memorialize" profiles of the dead if their friends or family request it.

Such accounts will be different from regular profiles.

For example, the site will remove any contact information and bar people from logging in. The person's also won't appear in the "suggestions" section of Facebook, and only the deceased person's confirmed friends will be able to find them in a search.

The development comes as Facebook becomes an important social hub for its more than 300 million active users worldwide to keep up with friends and family.

©2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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rgw
Oct 27, 2009

Rank: not rated yet
"Bring out your dead...."
"alas, poor Yorrick, I knew him well"
Hamlet and Monty Python would love this
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