Abstract
The development of artificial intelligence and digital memorial technology has given birth to the practice of digital immortality, which is the use of digital imprints, voices, images, and communication patterns of a person to build a virtual representation after the person in question dies. This phenomenon raises new legal issues, especially regarding the status of posthumous personal data, consent limits, the position of heirs, and the responsibility of parties who process data for the purpose of memorialization and interactive digital revival. This article aims to assess the adequacy of Indonesia's legal framework in protecting posthumous personal data and examine the relevance of neural rights as a normative reference. This research uses normative juridical methods with legislative, conceptual, analytical, and comparative approaches. The analysis focused on the 1945 Constitution, the Electronic Information and Transaction Law, and the Personal Data Protection Law, and then compared to regulatory developments in Chile, Mexico, Colorado in the United States, and Brazil. The results of the study show that Indonesian law has not explicitly regulated the protection of personal data after death. As a result, there are still normative gaps regarding the legitimacy of the deceased's data processing, the authority for granting consent, the rights of family or heirs, the limits on the use of data to form a person's virtual representation, and the relationship between posthumous data and the digital inheritance regime. This study also assesses that neural rights are relevant as normative inspirations, but are not sufficient when used as a single basis for regulation. Therefore, a legal reform is needed that explicitly regulates the protection of posthumous personal data in the Indonesian legal system comprehensively.
Keywords
Posthumous Personal Data, Digital Immortality, Personal Data Protection, Neural Rights, Digital Heritage, Indonesian Legal Framework,Metrics
References
- Aftab, S. (2024). Comparative Perspectives on the Right to Privacy. Springer Nature Switzerland, 109. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-45575-9
- Al Abiad, H., Masadeh, A. (2024). Law Comparison as a Research Method in Legal Studies, and Its Importance in Promoting Uniformity in Legal Systems. In: Al Marri, K., Mir, F.A., David, S.A., Al-Emran, M. (eds) BUiD Doctoral Research Conference 2023. Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering Springer, Cham, 473. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-56121-4_42
- Arisanthi, K.A.W. (2025). Hak Atas Privasi dalam Pengelolaan Digital Legacy Pascakematian sebagai Wujud Perlindungan Hak Asasi. Politika Progresif: Jurnal Hukum, Politik dan Humaniora, 2(2), 104-113. https://doi.org/10.62383/progres.v2i2.1672
- Brown, C.M.L. (2024). Neurorights, Mental Privacy, and Mind Reading. Neuroethics, 17(2), 34. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12152-024-09568-z
- Byrne, W.H., Olsen, H.P. (2024). Doctrinal Legal Science: A Science of Its Own. Canadian Journal of Law & Jurisprudence, 37(2), 343–367. https://doi.org/10.1017/cjlj.2024.16
- Cornejo-Plaza, M.I., Cippitani, R., Pasquino, V. (2024). Chilean Supreme Court ruling on the protection of brain activity: neurorights, personal data protection, and neurodata. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, 1330439. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1330439
- De Witte, B. (2022). Legal Methods for the Study of EU Institutional Practice. European Constitutional Law Review, 18(4), 637–656. https://doi.org/10.1017/S157401962200044X
- Do, B., Badillo, M., Cantz, R., Spivack, J. (2024). Privacy and the Rise of “Neurorights” in Latin America. Future of Privacy Forum. https://fpf.org/blog/privacy-and-the-rise-of-neurorights-in-latin-america/
- Figueroa-Torres, M. (2024). Affection as a service: Ghostbots and the changing nature of mourning. Computer Law & Security Review, 52, 105943. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clsr.2024.105943
- Galvão, V.F., Maciel, C., Pereira, R., Gasparini, I., Viterbo, J., Bicharra Garcia, A.C. (2021). Discussing human values in digital immortality: towards a value-oriented perspective. Journal of the Brazilian Computer Society, 27(1), 15. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13173-021-00121-x
- Guzmán, L. (2022). Chile: Pioneering the protection of neurorights. The UNESCO Courier, 2022(1):13-4. https://doi.org/10.18356/22202293-2022-1-4
- Haneman, V. (2025). The Law of Digital Resurrection. Boston College Law Review, 66(5), 1569–1626. https://doi.org/10.70167/YOEQ2314
- Harbinja, E., Edwards, L., McVey, M. (2023). Governing ghostbots. Computer Law & Security Review, 48, 105791. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clsr.2023.105791
- Harbinja, E., McVey, M., Edwards, L. (2024). Post - mortem privacy and digital legacy - a qualitative enquiry. Scripted, 21, 4–39. https://doi.org/10.2218/scrip.210024.4
- Harbinja, E., Morse, T., Edwards, L. (2026). Digital remains and post-mortem privacy in the UK: what do users want. International Review of Law, Computers & Technology, 40(1), 4–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/13600869.2025.2506164
- Hollanek, T., Nowaczyk-Basińska, K. (2024). Griefbots, Deadbots, Postmortem Avatars: on Responsible Applications of Generative AI in the Digital Afterlife Industry. Philosophy & Technology, 37(2), 63. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-024-00744-w
- Indonesia, U.U.D.N.R. (1945). Undang-Undang Dasar Negara Republik Indonesia Tahun 1945 Dalam Satu Naskah. Jdih. Bapeten. Go. Id.
- Iwasaki, M. (2024). Digital Cloning of the Dead: Exploring the Optimal Default Rule. Asian Journal of Law and Economics, 15(1), 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1515/ajle-2023-0125
- JDIH BPK. (2016). Undang-undang No. 19 Tahun 2016 tentang Perubahan Atas Undang-Undang Nomor 11 Tahun 2008 Tentang Informasi Dan Transaksi Elektronik.
- Klasiček, D. (2023). Inheritance Law in the Twenty-First Century: New Circumstances and Challenges. In: Gstrein, O.J., Fröhlich, M., van den Berg, C., Giegerich, T. (eds) Modernising European Legal Education (MELE). MELE 2023. European Union and its Neighbours in a Globalized World, Springer, Cham, 10. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40801-4_15
- Komunikasi, K., Indonesia, I. R. (2022). Undang-Undang Nomor 27 Tahun 2022 tentang Perlindungan Data Pribadi. Jakarta, Kominfo.
- Mahkamah Konstitusi Republik Indonesia. (2025). Data Pribadi Warga Wajib Dilindungi Negara Secara Maksimal. Mahkamah Konstitusi Republik Indonesia.
- McCay, A. (2024). Neurorights: The Chilean constitutional change. Ai & Society, 39(2), 797–798. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-022-01396-0
- Negara, T.A.S. (2023). Normative Legal Research in Indonesia: Its Originis and Approaches. Audito Comparative Law Journal (ACLJ), 4(1), 1–9.
- Nwabueze, R.N., White, M. (2024). Privacy law and the dead–a reappraisal. Journal of Media Law, 468-502. https://doi.org/10.1080/17577632.2024.2438395
- Roberts, R.J. (2023). You’re Only Mostly Dead: Protecting Your Digital Ghost from Unauthorized Resurrection. Federal Communications Law Journal, 75(2), 273.
- Rodríguez Reséndiz, H., Rodríguez Reséndiz, J. (2024). Digital Resurrection: Challenging the Boundary between Life and Death with Artificial Intelligence. Philosophies, 9(3), 71. https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies9030071
- Samuel, G. (2021). Methods of legal history and comparative law. In Comparative Methods in Law, Humanities and Social Sciences, 11–44. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781802201468.00007
- Savin-Baden, M., Burden, D. (2019). Digital Immortality and Virtual Humans. Postdigital Science and Education, 1(1), 87–103. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-018-0007-6
- Szwajdler, P. (2023). Digital assets and inheritance law: How to create fundamental principles of digital succession system. International Journal of Law and Information Technology, 31(2), 144–168. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijlit/eaad014
- Truby, J., Brown, R. (2021). Human digital thought clones: the Holy Grail of artificial intelligence for big data. Information & Communications Technology Law, 30(2), 140–168. https://doi.org/10.1080/13600834.2020.1850174
- Turenne, S. (2023). Reasons and Context in Comparative Law. Cambridge University Press.
- Waite, T. (2024). How companies like Neuralink could upload human brains into cyberspace. DAZED. https://www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/60341/1/mind-uploading-key-to-eternal-life-or-terrifying-dystopia-neuralink-elon-musk
- Zainuddin, M., Karina, A.D. (2023). Penggunaan metode yuridis normatif dalam membuktikan kebenaran pada penelitian hukum. Smart Law Journal, 2(2), 114–123.
Articles

