Plan digital afterlife, Net providers urge users

NEW YORK -- As the amount of personal information being stored online grows, computer users are being urged to start planning for their digital afterlife and what will happen to their online accounts once they shed this mortal coil.

Facebook, Google, Twitter and other sites have different policies on dealing with information and data once users die. Some states are also considering laws that would automatically give loved ones access to, though not control of, their dead relative's digital accounts, unless otherwise specified.

Unless they take action, users may not like the outcome: Would a person want to give their spouse automatic access to email correspondence? Should parents automatically be able to browse through a deceased child's online dating profile?

Google Inc., the company behind Gmail and Google Plus, has a tool that lets users decide what happens with their accounts after they die or become inactive online for another reason. The tool is called "inactive account manager."

Users can choose to have their data deleted after three, six or 12 months of inactivity. Or they can choose someone, such as a parent or a spouse, to receive the data. The tool covers not just email but also other Google services such as Google Plus, YouTube and Blogger.

Before deleting data, Google will send a warning to a secondary email address or a phone number if a user has provided one. This, of course, won't help if the user is dead, but the warning can be sent to someone else, such as the executor of an estate, friend or relative.

Google's inactive account manager can be found at: http://bit.ly/XuvgqD

The world's largest online social network, Facebook, doesn't give relatives access to a dead user's accounts.

Instead, family and friends can request for the deceased's account to be "memorialized" when they die. This means no one will be able to log in or modify any settings, such as adding or removing friends or deleting content. In addition, Facebook won't show the account in its "people you may know" section for suggesting friends and won't send birthday reminders.

Privacy settings from when the user was alive will carry over, and those can't be changed. So if friends were able to post to an account's Timeline, they'll still be able to do so. The Timeline posts will be viewable by the same people who were able to see those posts before. Friends will also be able to send private messages, as long as they were able to before, even though no one will see them.

Facebook's page on deleting or memorializing accounts can be found at: http://on.fb.me/1cyCi5e

Twitter will deactivate a deceased user's account if contacted by a family member or a person authorized to act on behalf of the dead person's estate.

For this, the person will need a death certificate. Because many people don't use their real names on Twitter, the company will also want a "brief description of the details that provide evidence this account belongs to the deceased," its policy states.

After 30 days, a deactivated Twitter account is permanently deleted.

To respect the wishes of loved ones, Twitter says it may also remove images of deceased individuals that circulate on the site. The policy applies only in limited circumstances and was implemented recently.

Information about Twitter's policies for family members of the dead is available at http://bit.ly/1w7cGaY

SundayMonday Business on 09/29/2014

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