I’m sure this must have been brought up ten zillion times by now but when I/you/we/everyone die(s) I wonder what will happen to my online affairs, email accounts, blogs, sites, diaries, message board memberships etc. I have several main email accounts that most of my friends and family are aware of but like most people I’ve got several others that no one close to me knows about. Various parts of my online ‘life’ is lived anonymously. There are several issues involved, privacy community, propriety and the like.
Does the next of kin have the right to get access to a yahoo or gmail account or any other email or message board account when the user/owner dies?
Can a user stipulate that this would not be allowed in the event of their demise?
Do services (either commercial or governmental) exist to help individuals wrap up their online affairs in the event of their untimely death or do people for the most part have individual means of dealing with these issues, for example a trusted friend with a list of your online activities and passwords?
This article deals with companies offering a final email in case of your demise. I couldn’t find the older article that I recall, which was about a site that required you to log in periodically (say, every three months) or it would issue email notifications of your death to all your nominated online pals, but these services sound similar. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/personaltechnology/2004074418_ptinbo15.html
When my husband died, I knew his email account password, so that wasn’t a problem. What I didn’t know about were his numerous accounts with porn sites, that were being charged to our credit card. I wasn’t able to close the accounts because I didn’t know usernames or passwords, so I had to cancel the credit cards and get new ones. That was quite embarassing to take care of, believe me.
It sucked to learn about his porn addiction after his death.