Kind of a morbid topic for a Friday, but I read an article that posed the question of what should happen to our online accounts when we die. Should they be automatically shut down? Should they be left up as a kind of memorial? I know that you can do the memorial thing with Facebook; someone has to mail them a copy of your death certificate.
Have online accounts become so important that we should write them into our wills? To some extent, yes. A lot of banking is done online these days, so it’s important that your bank account remains active for whoever gets to inherit your money. But for social media accounts like Facebook and Twitter… if I was still on either site, I don’t think I’d want my page up after I died for anyone to comment on. I’d hope someone would have the kindness to shut it down for me.
As for blogs, I think the same applies. If I wasn’t here to run this blog, I think it should be shut down, but a better approach might be for someone to put up a post explaining what happened to me. It bothers me when blogs become abandoned with no word about what happened to the writer. Did they die? Did they get sick of blogging? Did they travel to a remote location with no Internet?
The “professionals” always tell you not to write down your passwords and leave them lying around (and every time I hear that, I think of poor Neville Longbottom from Harry Potter, who misplaced his password list and unwittingly let Sirius Black into Gryffindor Tower), but I do think that passwords to online accounts should become part of a will and entrusted to someone who will do what you wish with your accounts when you pass on. I’d probably hide my passwords/account information in a safe somewhere and give the key to someone I trusted.
What do you think?
