Where Does Data Go When You Die?

[Andy Chalk]

Where Does Data Go When You Die?

An new and ever-so-slightly morbid online venture known as Legacy Locker has been launched that will automatically put your online affairs in order when you finally, and inevitably, kick the bucket.

With every passing year it seems that our lives become more and more entangled with the online space. We make friends, we send emails to business connections, we sign up for porn sites we desperately hope nobody else will ever find out about, yet very rarely do we ever consider what happens to all this stuff when we buy the farm. Who will tell our chat buddies? Who will post a notice on our Facebook [http://www.facebook.com] site? Who will send that email to the police, the Governor and the press admitting that you knew about the assault rifles in the garden shed but kept your mouth shut because the Mala Noche threatened to kill you if you came forward, but now that they've betrayed you it's time for the truth to come out and justice to be served?

Legacy Locker, a San Francisco-based startup, aims to fulfill that need. Users who sign up for the service can place online assets into a virtual "locker," which will then be passed on to a person of your choosing in the event of your untimely demise. Everything from online bank accounts to social network logins can be included and the company also offers "Legacy Letters" which lets people send a last-chance goodbye to online friends. (Or, I suppose, a last-chance "up yours" to online enemies.)

David Speiser of Legacy Locker says the company offers "bank level security" for any assets it holds and death reports must be confirmed by "human intervention," including the receipt of physical death certificate, before any material is released. The company's target market is U.S. families with kids under the age of 18 who already have wills in place, which Speiser said adds up to roughly 12.6 million households in total.

The only downside to the service is the expense: Legacy Locker costs $29.99 per year or, for those of you who don't plan on croaking anytime soon, $299.99 for a lifetime membership. A free trial account, with a limited number of assets and beneficiaries, is also available but detailed limitations are not yet listed. The Legacy Locker website is live but the service won't actually be operational until April.

Want to reach out from beyond the grave to tell your Legacy Locker [http://www.worldofwarcraft.com] is for you.

Source: VentureBeat [http://venturebeat.com/2009/03/10/when-you-pass-on-legacy-locker-passes-on-your-online-information/]


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[uppitycracker]

... a free trial? So if I die during my free trial, do those limited assets get taken care of? Haha just sounds... like a strange way to introduce it to people. But right on, the farther we progress into the internet, the more viable something like this can easily become.

 

[CyberKnight]

Kind of reminds me of that old joke about the man who goes to Florida on business, sends an email to his wife that gets delayed, then dies on the return trip. After his death, the email goes through, and his wife gets the message. The wife, not being as techno-smart, thinks it came from beyond the grave and has a coronary and dies herself after reading: "Sure is hot down here. Wish you were here."

 

[Nimbus]

Kind of reminds me of that old joke about the man who goes to Florida on business, sends an email to his wife that gets delayed, then dies on the return trip. After his death, the email goes through, and his wife gets the message. The wife, not being as techno-smart, thinks it came from beyond the grave and has a coronary and dies herself after reading: "Sure is hot down here. Wish you were here."

Um, do you mean she didn't check her email until afterwards? Emails don't get delayed.

 

[Noone From Nowhere]

It looks like someone decided to make a real-life version of the post-mortum 'home-staging' company from the first season of The Man Show but only the computer-related portion of it combined with that website that sends out greeting cards in the event of the client's death.

 

[I III II X4]

So, how would it look?

Dear associate of (Insert name here),

We regret to inform you of the passing of (dead sob here). You were on a list of contacts for when our client passed, to respect their wishes, we were to let you know of this event.

Time stops for no one. Also, stop PMing them, they're dead, deader than a dodo, deader than door nail.

Regards,

Legacy Locker.

 

[Grand_Poohbah]

Haha! Emails do to get delayed.

(Why can't I quote people?)

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

I wondered how I could let my XBL friends know if I died suddenly.

 

[Blank__]

Um, do you mean she didn't check her email until afterwards? Emails don't get delayed.

Hahahaha! Emails are not, and never were meant to be, instant communication. https://aguk.net/articles/email-is-not-instant/

That idea is expensive, but I really like it. I've had friends pass away that either played online regularly with friends or were, themselves, guys I'd known through clans and the like. The people I'd played with for years that suddenly disappear.. You'd always wonder, but rarely would you ever receive notice that yes, the friend in question had passed away. If you put stuff into all the documents you leave behind, citing logins and people that need to be informed, I'm sure someone in your family/a close friend could tell your online compadres, but there's enough going on after a death that I can see how this service would be more palatable.