In so many recent cases, we hear about someone going missing and people around them are unable to access what could be really crucial data sources, such as messages associated with a social media account. Or, law enforcement is trying desperately to get something like cell records, but they are having to go through all the steps and legal processes associated with getting a warrant, which can take valuable days or even weeks.

As consumers, we sign contracts and check permission boxes all the time. Would it be possible for mobile, social media, email, and app companies to offer user permissions along the lines of “I give permission to law enforcement to access information about my account (including usage, messages, and location data) if:

I am declared a missing person. YES NO

My cause of death is determined to be a homicide. YES NO

I am declared legally dead. YES NO

[possible other options, like beaten into a coma...]”

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Each customer could decide whether or not to check “yes” for each of these things. Affirmative consent would be required—the default would be “no”—and the user could revoke that permission at any time. So if you’re only OK with LE having access if you’re murdered, you can say yes to that and no to the others.

Obviously I’m not a lawyer and the wording would have to be scrutinized from a legal perspective to ensure that "law enforcement" was specifically defined, and that this could not be abused by LE, the company, or third parties. But it seems to me that this could be used by people to ensure that if something happens to them (or if they're in a situation where they are afraid something might happen to them, like a person in an abusive relationship), the obstacles that are normally in place for LE to access this information are removed so that LE have this information in the crucial early stages of the investigation.