Dr.Wendy Moncur's presentation from the 2012 Turing Festival event, Security & Freedom, in Edinburgh, UK.

1. YOUR
DIGITAL INHERITANCE
DR. WENDY MONCUR, FRSA
SCHOOL OF COMPUTING, UNIVERSITY OF DUNDEE
VISITING FELLOW, CENTRE FOR DEATH & SOCIETY, UNIVERSITY OF BATH

2. LIFE, DEATH &
ASSETS
BEQUEATHING
DIGITAL ASSETS
STEPS TO TAKE?

3. THE DAYS OF
OUR YEARS
ARE
THREESCORE
YEARS
AND TEN
(PSALM 90:10, KING JAMES
BIBLE)

5. ARE ONLINE & OFFLINE DEATH
SYNCHRONOUS?
http://budgetsmartgirl.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/final-graveyard-sandwich-tray.jpg

6. YOUR REAL-LIFE ASSETS
House
Car
Money
Furniture
Photos, videos, letters
Jewellery
Body

7. YOUR DIGITAL ASSETS
Photos
Blog posts
Emails
Social media accounts
Online contacts
Video
Music
Books
Memberships
Online business
Airmiles accounts
… and more…

8. WHERE ARE YOUR
DIGITAL ASSETS?
Laptop. iPod. Smart phone. Kindle. External hard drive. CD or DVD.
Cloud backup service. Memory stick.
http://blog.redtray.co.uk/2012/07/06/why-training-in-the-cloud-has-become-the-must-have-it-accessory/

9. WHAT ARE THEY WORTH?

10. UNEXPECTEDLY
USEFUL?
http://jlluesma.deviantart.com/art/Back-Tattoo-133720061

11. BEQUEATHING
DIGITAL ASSETS

12. BEQUEATHING DIGITAL
ASSETS
Can you? Yes, in Oklahoma (House bill 2800)
• social networking site
• micro blogging
• email & short message service websites
Barriers to bequeathal

13. BARRIERS TO BEQUEATHAL
Awareness of account’s existence
Identity –
actual, pseudonymous, anonymous
Password
Ownership of digital asset
http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Inworld/bg-p/blog_inworld/date/2-5-2012

14. http://info.yahoo.com/legal/uk/yahoo/utos-173.html/

15. LANCE CORPORAL ELLSWORTH

16. OTHER INTERNET
SERVICE PROVIDERS
Facebook: Memorialize or remove the account. Content can be
downloaded if you have password. http://www.facebook.com
Twitter: remove account or assist family members in saving a
backup of deceased‟s public Tweets.
Gmail: May give access if formal evidence of death provided
http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=14300
eBay: You cannot “transfer your eBay account (including feedback) and
user ID to another party without our consent”
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/user-agreement.html
/

17. DO YOU HAVE
SKELETONS IN
YOUR CLOSET?
http://fallen-angel42.deviantart.com/art/Skeleton-in-your-closet-
153072854

18. STEPS TO TAKE?

19. WHAT CAN YOU DO?: 1
Make a list of ALL your digital assets
- ID, Password, Website
Consider using a software tool to store passwords securely
• - E.g. LastPass, 1Password, Clipperz, RoboForm

20. Writing down or sharing your password
may violate the Terms of Service
agreement with your Internet Service
provider.

21. WHAT CAN YOU DO?: 2
Appoint a Digital Executor
DIY method
• Family member
• Friend
• Colleague
• Lawyer
Digital estate services
Posthumous email services

22. DIGITAL ESTATE
SERVICES
Secure online service
• e.g. Legacy Locker, Entrustnet
• May demand death certificate as proof of death
Stores your digital inventory
May also store:
• last wishes
• instructions for funeral
• posthumous email
• instructions in case if brain death
• eg – Legacy Organiser app

23. POSTHUMOUS EMAIL
Online service
• e.g http://www.deadmansswitch.net/
Death may be assumed if you fail to answer 3 emails
from service provider….
Emails sent after you die

24. DO YOU NEED A DIGITAL
ESTATE SERVICE, OR IS
IT OVERKILL?
Security
Password updates
Number of heirs
Your age & health
How good you are with computers
Triggering action

25. SUMMARY
Your digital assets are growing daily
Bequeathing them is not simple
You may wish to:
• Make an inventory of your digital assets
• Choose:
• your digital executor
• What assets you want to pass on, to whom.
Dr. Wendy Moncur
http://www.computing.dundee.ac.uk/staff/wmoncur/

26. Digital Estate Posthumous DIY Method
Services emails
Want stringent 3rd Y Less stringent N
party verification
Death cert check Y N N
Automated digital Y 1/2 N
executor
Digital „heirs‟ Complex Complex Simple
Passwords change Y N N
often
Open new accounts Y N N
frequently
Willing to pay for Maybe Maybe N
service