Comments on: Why bother with the digital afterlife? http://www.thedigitalbeyond.com/2009/11/why-bother-with-the-digital-afterlife/ Insight into your digital afterlife Tue, 10 Aug 2010 15:09:41 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: John Romano http://www.thedigitalbeyond.com/2009/11/why-bother-with-the-digital-afterlife/comment-page-1/#comment-1495 John Romano Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:28:53 +0000 http://www.thedigitalbeyond.com/?p=643#comment-1495 I think that contemplating what you will leave behind is something that people tend to do alter in life. Seeing the death of parents and the birth of children tend to put one's life in a broader context. It's at that point that people of the first digital generation will begin to seriously consider the fate of their digital identities and all those "born-digital" assets. I think that contemplating what you will leave behind is something that people tend to do alter in life. Seeing the death of parents and the birth of children tend to put one’s life in a broader context. It’s at that point that people of the first digital generation will begin to seriously consider the fate of their digital identities and all those “born-digital” assets.

]]> By: R.Brian Burkhardt http://www.thedigitalbeyond.com/2009/11/why-bother-with-the-digital-afterlife/comment-page-1/#comment-1089 R.Brian Burkhardt Mon, 21 Dec 2009 19:18:10 +0000 http://www.thedigitalbeyond.com/?p=643#comment-1089 Truly there needs to be standards set in digital afterlife issues.There needs to be an internet summit on this. Perhaps it may be best to include this topic in a conference on internet privacy issues. Truly there needs to be standards set in digital afterlife issues.There needs to be an internet summit on this. Perhaps it may be best to include this topic in a conference on internet privacy issues.

]]> By: sampablokuper http://www.thedigitalbeyond.com/2009/11/why-bother-with-the-digital-afterlife/comment-page-1/#comment-854 sampablokuper Sat, 28 Nov 2009 15:56:16 +0000 http://www.thedigitalbeyond.com/?p=643#comment-854 I've been thinking about the digital afterlife for all the reasons you've given, but also because it's clear to me that the provisions for managing one's digital afterlife are, at the moment, so poor. Services like Legacy Locker go a good way towards addressing these issues, but they don't go all the way. To use a WWW analogy, they only work on the client side (storing your login details to online services, for instance), not on the server side (e.g. implementing policies to ensure that content you've stored in those online services won't be deleted in the event that your payments stop because you've died). Shortly before I discovered thedigitalbeyond.com, I set up a website with a wiki at <a href="http://rodfos.org" rel="nofollow">rodfos.org</a> in order to create space where myself and others who are concerned about this could begin to try to draft some standards for ensuring that digital legacies are dealt with sensibly and fairly across the online industry. Well, at least across the online service providers who adopt those standards and pledge to uphold them. The present rather haphazard state struck me as being like browser wars for the dead: no sooner have one's legal executors found the correct way to secure one online service account for the deceased's next of kin than they have to follow an entirely different procedure for the next account. The state of affairs is illustrated quite clearly by skimming the list at <a href="http://dealingwithdeathonline.wikidot.com/" rel="nofollow">http://dealingwithdeathonline.wikidot.com</a>. Some companies' policies are less than sensitive. Some are also rather insecure, e.g. relying on obituaries rather than death certificates for confirmation of death. Thanks for all you're doing to raise awareness of digital afterlife issues. I’ve been thinking about the digital afterlife for all the reasons you’ve given, but also because it’s clear to me that the provisions for managing one’s digital afterlife are, at the moment, so poor.

Services like Legacy Locker go a good way towards addressing these issues, but they don’t go all the way. To use a WWW analogy, they only work on the client side (storing your login details to online services, for instance), not on the server side (e.g. implementing policies to ensure that content you’ve stored in those online services won’t be deleted in the event that your payments stop because you’ve died).

Shortly before I discovered thedigitalbeyond.com, I set up a website with a wiki at rodfos.org in order to create space where myself and others who are concerned about this could begin to try to draft some standards for ensuring that digital legacies are dealt with sensibly and fairly across the online industry. Well, at least across the online service providers who adopt those standards and pledge to uphold them. The present rather haphazard state struck me as being like browser wars for the dead: no sooner have one’s legal executors found the correct way to secure one online service account for the deceased’s next of kin than they have to follow an entirely different procedure for the next account. The state of affairs is illustrated quite clearly by skimming the list at http://dealingwithdeathonline.wikidot.com. Some companies’ policies are less than sensitive. Some are also rather insecure, e.g. relying on obituaries rather than death certificates for confirmation of death.

Thanks for all you’re doing to raise awareness of digital afterlife issues.

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