Data misuse, someone has a dead person’s phone, looks and listens to things while erasing data

On September 10th, I published this blog post about a death across the network.

Today, I’ve been told that someone received tthings that belong to them, and that’s all well and good.

The problem is, they told me that they “listened to voice mail” and looked at the device in question so they could delete the data.

On an I/Device:

• Go to settings, general, reset device.
• Confirm to erase the device and put it back on factory settings.

I don’t understand why anyone, without their conscent, should go through a dead person’s device and listen to things, read things or do anything with the device without their permission.

I would have reset the device to factory settings and erased the data. I would not look to see what type of data is on the device.

This is appalling and I’m not happy.

Do I have a reason to? Yes. One of my phone numbers is now out of date and the other is not one I ever gave them.

A third they can have, but I don’t know if they paid that much attention.

While I don’t think there will be misuse of the data and indications that they’re “cleaining out the phone” before sending it back, this is the last thing I’d expect from someone.

I’ve already put a call in to one person whose data could be misused but I’m uncertain if that’s the case.

If you are ever in a situation like this, just erase the device and call it good. You’ll save those who might still be grieving a bunch of heartache and additional worry.