From the «no more shitposting» department:
Feed: Technology | The Guardian
Title: ‘Tech platforms haven’t been designed to think about death’: meet the
expert on what happens online when we die
Author: Zoë Corbyn
Date: Sat, 30 Sep 2023 11:00:18 -0400
Link: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/sep/30/technology-tamara-kneese-death-glitch-digital-afterlife-death-remains

Our digital profiles and possessions are ever-expanding, but what happens to them after our deaths? Tech companies are yet to offer a satisfactory solution, says the technology researcher Tamara Kneese

Tamara Kneese studies how people experience technology. She is a senior researcher at New York-based nonprofit Data & Society Research Institute[1]. Her
new book, Death Glitch[2], examines what happens to our digital belongings when we die, and argues that tech companies need to improve how they deal with death on their platforms for the sake of all our digital posterity.

The posthumous fate of our digital belongings seems a morbid topic. Why is it important?
Not many people think about their digital legacy, but our digital belongings are
accumulating. There are both pragmatic and sentimental reasons why your loved ones, after your death, might care about them. And preservation matters for historical, collective memory too. The problem is, there is no clear mechanism for passing digital belongings from one generation to the next. Our digital possessions are getting lost in the ether – not only because our loved ones might not even be aware of what accounts we have, but because tech platforms haven’t been designed to anticipate or think about death.
Continue reading...[3]

Links:
[1]: https://datasociety.net/ (link)
[2]: https://guardianbookshop.com/death-glitch-9780300248272?utm_source=editoriallink&utm_medium=merch&utm_campaign=article (link)
[3]: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/sep/30/technology-tamara-kneese-death-glitch-digital-afterlife-death-remains (link)



--
Social media is for when too few idiots surround you in real life

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On 9/30/2023 10:01 PM, Retrograde wrote:

Not many people think about their digital legacy, but our digital belongings are
accumulating. There are both pragmatic and sentimental reasons why your loved ones, after your death, might care about them. And preservation matters for historical, collective memory too.

I dunno, I still don't see why it matters. Once your dead, does anyone
really need to access your on-line banking, facebook account, etc.? Any important digital pictures should be stored on your computer or
whatever. I don't trust cloud-anything, personally.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Sun, 01 Oct 2023 00:12:24 -0400, Michael Trew wrote:

On 9/30/2023 10:01 PM, Retrograde wrote:

Not many people think about their digital legacy, but our digital belongings are
accumulating. There are both pragmatic and sentimental reasons why your loved
ones, after your death, might care about them. And preservation matters for >> historical, collective memory too.

I dunno, I still don't see why it matters. Once your dead, does anyone really need to access your on-line banking, facebook account, etc.?

The executor of your estate could find your banking/tax records useful.
Ignore Facebook, etc. but your heirs might find any research on Ancestry interesting.

Any
important digital pictures should be stored on your computer or
whatever.

I use a portable hard drive for backups/copies of things like that.

I don't trust cloud-anything, personally.

Agreed. I don't put stuff on someone else's server, except for the bank or Ancestry, grocery delivery, Forte, etc. If you want to use something on another device it's easy enough to copy it to a thumb drive or a portable
hard drive.
--
Ernie B.

Communication: The art of moving an idea from one mind to another,
hopefully without distortion.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Sun, 1 Oct 2023 02:01:01 -0000 (UTC), Retrograde <[email protected]d> wrote:

and argues that tech companies need to improve how they deal with death
on their platforms for the sake of all our digital posterity.

"Google announced in May that it will be deleting accounts that have
been "inactive" for at least two years. Inactive accounts have a
better chance of being compromised, the company stated.
Aug 9, 2023

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

JAB <[email protected]d> writes:

On Sun, 1 Oct 2023 02:01:01 -0000 (UTC), Retrograde <[email protected]d> wrote:

and argues that tech companies need to improve how they deal with death
on their platforms for the sake of all our digital posterity.

"Google announced in May that it will be deleting accounts that have
been "inactive" for at least two years. Inactive accounts have a
better chance of being compromised, the company stated.
Aug 9, 2023

I think I would not like anything left around on someone else's platform
when I die. I'd like it to all get wiped. I'm gone, it's gone.
Keeping around my stupid old Usenet posts for posterity sounds terrible
to me - they were bad enough the first time!

And I agree that old, inactive accounts are more easily compromised as
no one is logging in and checking them.

My ancestors will get whatever I leave them on a portable hard drive. Everything else can get zeroed out, I don't care.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Sun, 01 Oct 2023 18:22:17 -0400
Retrograde <[email protected]d> wrote:

JAB <[email protected]d> writes:

On Sun, 1 Oct 2023 02:01:01 -0000 (UTC), Retrograde <[email protected]d> wrote:

and argues that tech companies need to improve how they deal with death >>on their platforms for the sake of all our digital posterity.

"Google announced in May that it will be deleting accounts that have
been "inactive" for at least two years. Inactive accounts have a
better chance of being compromised, the company stated.
Aug 9, 2023

I think I would not like anything left around on someone else's platform
when I die. I'd like it to all get wiped. I'm gone, it's gone.
Keeping around my stupid old Usenet posts for posterity sounds terrible
to me - they were bad enough the first time!

And I agree that old, inactive accounts are more easily compromised as
no one is logging in and checking them.

My ancestors will get whatever I leave them on a portable hard drive. Everything else can get zeroed out, I don't care.

Your ancestors probably already don't care. A descendant will laugh at your puny amount of storage.

--
Bah, and indeed Humbug.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 2023-10-01, Retrograde <[email protected]d> wrote:

JAB <[email protected]d> writes:

On Sun, 1 Oct 2023 02:01:01 -0000 (UTC), Retrograde
<[email protected]d> wrote:

and argues that tech companies need to improve how they deal with death >>>on their platforms for the sake of all our digital posterity.

"Google announced in May that it will be deleting accounts that have
been "inactive" for at least two years. Inactive accounts have a
better chance of being compromised, the company stated.
Aug 9, 2023

I think I would not like anything left around on someone else's platform
when I die. I'd like it to all get wiped. I'm gone, it's gone.
Keeping around my stupid old Usenet posts for posterity sounds terrible
to me - they were bad enough the first time!

I think about that with my family, their social media will be frozen in
time. Not a concern for myself as I don't have social media, all my
retro stuff like usenet, irc, bbs, are anonymised and my friends and
family don't know them.

I do have Steam, Epic, GOG and Ubisoft and I would like my games to be
passed along to my kids. Pics and docs are all on a NAS.

--
Don't be afraid of the deep...
--[ bbs.bottomlessabyss.net | https | telnet=2023 ]--
--[ /query geeknix on libera.chat | tilde.chat ]--

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On Mon, 2 Oct 2023 09:42:07 +0100
"Kerr-Mudd, John" <[email protected]> wrote:

My ancestors will get whatever I leave them on a portable hard drive. Everything else can get zeroed out, I don't care.

Your ancestors probably already don't care.

Ha ha, good catch and well done, you are right. I meant descendents of
course. Well done. I think my ancestors would wonder why my
generation spends so much time indoors producing little of value.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 10/1/23 12:42, ErnieB wrote:

The executor of your estate could find your banking/tax records useful.

They absolutely would, but your online banking account has nothing to do
with the actual accounts. The banking world has had ways to deal with
estates for hundreds of years.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Mon, 2 Oct 2023 10:24:11 -0500, rdh <[email protected]ute> wrote:

The banking world has had ways to deal with
estates for hundreds of years.

For hundred of years, there have been bankers/lawyers seeking ways to
mine a deceased persons' assets.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

In misc.news.internet.discuss, Retrograde <[email protected]d> wrote:

I think I would not like anything left around on someone else's platform
when I die. I'd like it to all get wiped. I'm gone, it's gone.
Keeping around my stupid old Usenet posts for posterity sounds terrible
to me - they were bad enough the first time!

And I agree that old, inactive accounts are more easily compromised as
no one is logging in and checking them.

My mom died about fifteen months ago. Even before she died, she lost
control (couldn't log in, possibly hacked and password changed, possibly something else) her Google hosted stuff. She had a personal webpage with knitting patterns and instructions. A youtube channel with knitting
videos. An account at Facebook that she was using to the end, but I
don't know what is in it, and an account at Ravelry (knitting social
site). Probably more accounts that I don't know about.

To me, a digital legacy would allow me to post an obituary to her
social media accounts (Facebook and Ravelry) to reach the people I don't
how to reach in any other way. Would allow me to flag her as deceased to Youtube, so people will know never to expect a response to a comment and
to give Youtube an alternative person to contact if there's ever a
copyright dispute. Would allow me manage any patterns she had uploaded
to Ravelry (which has free and paid pattern options for members). Would
allow me to archive her website or continue to pay for the hosting.

But she had nothing in place to allow that. Other family members have
posted on both Facebook and Ravelry of her death, but not on her
account, so we can't be sure the people looking there will ever know why
she went silent: and she was losing her vision at the end making it very
hard for her to use a lot of online stuff so she had started to drop off
from things a few years before her death.

Besides digital legacy, a digital power of attourney to be authorized to recover accounts for older people who have locked themselves out would
be very useful.

Elijah
------
has a bit of a better situation with his wife

My ancestors will get whatever I leave them on a portable hard drive. Everything else can get zeroed out, I don't care.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Sun, 8 Oct 2023 04:28:02 -0000 (UTC), Eli the Bearded <*@eli.users.panix.com> wrote:

Besides digital legacy, a digital power of attourney to be authorized to >recover accounts for older people who have locked themselves out would
be very useful.

Part of the problem is here: https://budsoffshoreenergy.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/nmja.jpg

I suspect there would have to be federal legislation for a "digital
power of attorney," and typically, Congress sits on its butt until
shit hits the fan.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 2023-10-08, Eli the Bearded <*@eli.users.panix.com> wrote:

Besides digital legacy, a digital power of attourney to be authorized to recover accounts for older people who have locked themselves out would
be very useful.

Agreed. It's useful to have a print out of your passwords in a safe
place, for this reason. Or a password app whose master pass is made
available (printed and stapled to your will, or something).

It's hard to plan ahead. Your mom's case is sad, so much lost
information that would be of value to others.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)