Doubts raised over safety, legality of 'online wills’  

“人生黑匣子”走红 律师称网络遗嘱不具法律效力

近日，网上一款自称可以保管用户遗嘱信息的“人生黑匣子”意外走红。这家网站称，网友只需每年花59元，购买一个“保管箱”，把自己的心愿和想法存在里面，网站将会在用户死后把遗嘱发送给指定的联系人，这就是所谓的“网络遗嘱”。[查看全文]

(ECNS)-- An emerging online service to help people maintain their last will and testament in a virtual storage box has stirred debate among the public, the Xiamen Daily observed on Wednesday.

Called a "black box of your life," the service offers to keep any kind of private information, including financial statements, virtual accounts, web diaries, and testaments.

By creating an account on the website and paying only 59 yuan ($9) as an annual fee, customers can own a virtual black box.

According to an introduction, customers are advised to select their friends or family as contacts and set a specific period of validity for the box based on their login frequency.

If a user sets the period as one month but doesn't visit the account in that period, customer service at the website will notify his or her contacts. Once the site confirms the death of a customer, it will send the information stored by the user to his or her contacts.

The service spiked in popularity following the case of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.

Zhang, a customer service worker at the website, told the Xiamen Daily that the site has attracted 360,000 members.

The service can not only be used to store personal information, but also serve as a kind of emotional support, said some netizens who have welcomed the service.

However, some people worry about the potential risks of information leakage linked with the virtual black box, saying the confidentiality of clients can't be guaranteed if the website is hacked.

Zheng Zhining, a lawyer, also said that such online wills have no legal force.

Zheng said if private information is stolen by hackers, it would be hard to get compensation from the website. Netizens are thus warned to be cautious about the online wills.