Bijoy Ghosh

Who inherits my Web wealth?



Suppose I kick the bucket now, what happens to my data in all the
social networks, e-mail sites and photo and video sharing sites? How
will the sites know I am dead? How long will they keep my data? What
if some hacker gets access to my data and finds out what I have been
‘doing’ online? According to a report in SC Magazine, in the US, “One
of the places identity thieves search for new victims is the obituary
column. By including the date of birth and death, the identity thief
can search the Social Security Administration’s Death Index and find
the Social Security number of the deceased.”

Ok. Let us forget the hackers. How will my family members know what I
have stored online? How will they know which sites I have accounts?
Even if they know the sites, how will they know the usernames and
passwords? Should I list them out and keep the sheet in a sealed
envelope only to be opened after God presses my life’s ‘delete’
button? Won’t I sound stupid if I tell my family that the
’super-secret’ envelope to be opened later has ’usernames and
passwords’ to social sites?

Suppose I change the passwords over a period of time after sealing the
envelope, the envelope will become useless. If so, how will they be
able to access the data stashed by me across the Web? Will the sites
allow access to my family members if they request it? Almost all major
social Web sites have their own guidelines on honouring requests for
accessing data. But this can be time-consuming and your family must
know which sites you have accounts.

There are sites such as legacylocker that allow you “to pass access to
your online accounts to friends and loved ones. It’s like a digital
safety deposit box — you can put passwords to all your online accounts
(e-mails, photos, social networks, everything online that requires a
login) in it. For every account you store, you can assign a
beneficiary, someone to whom you want to entrust your digital content
for the future”.

But what if legacylocker itself dies?

R. Dinakaran

source:
http://www.blonnet.com/ew/2009/11/02/stories/2009110250010100.htm

avinash said: very interesting! isn't it?
-- 
information exists to dissiminate

avinash shahi
persuing masters in political science
JNU delhi
email: shahi88avin...@gmail.com
phone: 98,71,18,49,04.

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