How many domain names do you have registered? I can think of at least five between mine and others I manage. If you were to pass before the registration expired, who would renew them? Remember that domain names aren’t property and you can’t really put them in your will. As I see it, and I’m not a lawyer mind you, there are two really simple options to protect them:

1. Set up a corporation, likely an LLC, and register your domain names through it. You can appoint a designee to take over the corporation and they’ll have relatively few issues gaining administrative control of your domains. In my opinion this plan is highly complicated, but is the most legally sound.

2. For those of us who don’t like to draw up legal documents in our spare time, allow me to suggest a more straightforward approach. First create a list of all of your registrars, DNS providers, hosting companies and the like. Record your usernames and passwords with this list. It’s important that you keep this list updated, by the way, because an old/expired password won’t be of much use. Now, dependent upon how much security you prefer you can either place this list in a secure location at home, or go and rent a safety deposit box at your local bank. Next appoint a technically minded designee whom you trust. Again dependent upon your security preferences, either provide them with the location of this list or specifically grant them the safety deposit box in your will. Make sure to set expectations with your designee and everything should go as planned.

I would suggest that you leave specific, written instructions with your designee. You may also be interested in providing messages for your online communities and friends that he could deliver on your behalf.

One thing you shouldn’t do is provide usernames and passwords in your will. It is a part of public record and can be viewed by anyone. Also, you should probably review your plans with your lawyer. As I said before, I’m not one and this information is provided as-is with no warranty expressed or implied. Feel free to use it as you wish, but my colleagues nor I are liable for any resulting damages.

Here’s some blog love that we received shortly after our idea hit the Panel Picker back in August.

From Chris Snyder at Wired

… And how are they pimping up their panels?  Social media of course. Techies from across the country are reaching out in Tweets to get votes as well as in Facebook groups.

Some interesting submissions from a wide variety of promising topics:

Who Will Check My Email After I Die?

Evan Carroll, Capstrat

“Ever wondered what will happen to your digital existence after you die? E-mail, domain names, social networking content – do you want to leave it behind, “bequeath” it, or delete it? This in-depth discussion will provide technical, philosophical and legal insights on how to articulate your final online wishes.” …

From Ben Menoza

SXSW 2009 is approaching fast, and around this time, potential presenters collect their thoughts and come up with panels that would make for interesting discussion during the day. In true democratic fashion, the (registered) public votes on submitted panel ideas through the Interactive Panel Picker. Each panel idea falls under one category. The focus for this post will be Human/Social Issues.

As someone notorious for leaving a substantial carbon footprint, I’ll do (almost) anything to offset the bad karma of destroying the planet. Perhaps I could attend a panel on promoting social good through social media, or using the web to fix government, or even understand the differences between how men and women are treated in the industry (or just learn about the hot chicks who work in it).

There’s something for everyone in this category, but here are the four I’m interested in:

• Being Green on Your Own Terms with Second Rotation’s Rousseau Aurelien
• Who Will Check My Email After I Die? with Capstrat’s Evan Carroll
• Surviving Scandal: How to Manage Negative Attention in the Internet Age with Megan McCarthy (note that this just goes to a parked page on GoDaddy)
• Social Networks for the Social Good: The World Beyond Facebook with iMentor’s Mike O’Brien

If any of these well-wishers are reading, I’m happy to report that we’ll be there and you should be too.

So while mad scientists are busy making digital salvation possible, what can us mere mortals do to enable our digital footprint to outlive us? Well, in this lifetime I believe that people are going to start offering services that allow us to bundle up and archive our digital self.

If we think of that footprint as the total of all our online transactions (posts, comments, photos, videos, etc.) , then bundling up all the assets would provide a view of a person’s digital life.

Of course this issue is clouded by the very idea of ownership. Who owns a comment? Who owns the blog. For that matter, who really owns your Facebook or Flickr profile? You? Or the site? But regardless, the content is there. It’s accessible. It’s store-able.

The only question to consider is why?

We are at the beginning of a new age. Data storage gets cheaper by the day. It enables us to store incredible amounts of data. It is quite possible that whatever makes the leap to digital has a chance of remaining until the end of time.

We are happy to inform you that we have now finalized the day/ time for our Core Conversation

Who Will Check My Email After I Die?
Tues, March 17
5:00-6:00 PM

See you there!

Egyptian kings buried themselves with treasure, food, and even slaves. Chinese emperors made ceramic armies to command after death. What do modern people do? They bury themselves with their mobile phones, Blackberries and iPhones and iPods.

In this MSN article, funeral directors talk about how people are requesting to be buried with their digital devices. Friends may start a play list that the deceased can listen to as they go into the ground. Or friends can call mobile phones as the casket is being lowered into the earth and hear the faint ringing of the phone.  I suppose people could TXT their last respects. “hey bffl. c u l8r. ily”

People crave connection. Some people have been known to keep paying the mobile account after a death just so they can continue to call the number and leave voice messages.

Electronics are making their may into the most intimate and profound rituals in life. They are becoming part of the fabric of our lives. People will mean it when they say that they can’t live without their computers. I guess they won’t be able to die without them either.

I wonder how the 3G signal is 6 feet under?

Re-posted from jwromano.com.