Planning for Your Digital Demise

By Wayne Maruna

            There’s been a lot of discussion in computer circles over the past couple of years about “the cloud”.  Well, like it or not, one day you’re going to be going up into a “cloud” yourself, so to speak. At least I hope to be going ‘up’ and not ‘down’.  Actually, my plan is to live forever. So far, so good, though I admit the odds are against me. 

Funeral Wreath Some folks prepare for that day with pre-need funeral contracts to handle their physical arrangements. But as we become more involved with computers, there are digital ramifications associated with passing on as well. No, I’m not suggesting you can take your iPad with you.

             Ted Perkins, one of the New Bern Computer User Group members, shared with the group a couple of web links he came upon that deal with this topic.  I suspect that most people, like yours truly, never gave this so much as a, ahem, passing thought.  Yet it really is likely to have an impact on our survivors, heirs, and executors.

            The topic is far larger than I can address in this article, and besides, it is already well covered in the online article that Ted shared, which you can read here:
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/how_prepare_your_online_afterlife

 No less than Google, who so often leads the pack in addressing issues we haven’t even considered, has made plans for the time when you have “logged out of life” as the author cleverly puts it. Read the details here: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9238354/Google_lets_users_plan_their_digital_afterlife

 So what sort of things are we talking about?  Let’s consider a few of the most salient points of the articles.

Passwords
    Does your spouse, executor, or heir have access to your passwords?  Can that person access your computer, email accounts, on-line banking and other websites?  Have you left tracks as to where any important digital documents reside?

Websites
    Do you have a website that you maintain?  If so, you need to leave instructions on how to access it, where it is hosted, and how to make contact with the right party if you wish to drop the site.  Some website hosting services may have set up the site hosting fee to auto-renew, with a charge to your (possibly joint) credit card. Eventually that card’s expiration date will block further charges, but until then it is fair game.

Email Accounts
    Do email accounts go on forever?  Most email providers have some sort of turn-off switch that disables or eliminates your account after a set period of inactivity.  Is this sufficient?  Do you know what it is?  What happens if you are disabled or in a coma?  Learn your email provider’s rules and think about instructing someone to act on your behalf to either maintain or close your account, sort of like a digital living will.  Google provides a tool called the Inactive Account Manager.  The product manager describes it thusly: "You can tell us what to do with your Gmail messages and data from several other Google services if your account becomes inactive for any reason."
Shocked
Avoid Awkward Afterwards
    Perhaps you have content on your computer that you’d rather not have seen or read by your successors.  That may take the form of letters, pictures, emails, or spreadsheets.  Consider moving, removing, or encrypting that content now to avoid losing any luster from your halo.

Cloud Storage
    In computer parlance, reference to “the cloud” really has to do with your data stored on someone else’s remote server.  This may take the form of your music collection (Amazon MP3s), data backup (Mozy or Carbonite), or content sharing venues (e.g. SkyDrive, Dropbox, or Evernote).  Find out how sites you use deal with continued content storage or inactive accounts, and what they require from executors to allow for content removal.

Famous (or Infamous) Last Words
Scream    The first linked article above provides thoughts on the potential for leaving some legacy content in the form of a final email or even, as they call it, a final You Tube rant, to be released by your executor upon your demise.  I have to admit this doesn’t sound like the best idea in the world to me, as I can see the potential for too many things going wrong. Nevertheless, if you want to get in one last poke at Weird Uncle Charlie, this might be a way.

 If you can deal with the morbidity of the subject, do read the linked articles above, and think about taking action to ease the load on your successors. I’m thinking it would be wise to do so before heading over to Andy’s Highway 55 joint for a pint of their Death By Chocolate frozen custard.