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What Happens To Your Data When You Die?
dacarr writes "Your data - that is, the personal web pages and projects you have worked on to make the 'net a better place - are presumably password protected. But sooner or later the time will come when you take that last breath, and with you goes your passwords, but not your data. It's still there for your benefactors to deal with. And while many famous people who are no longer with us (e.g., Douglas Adams or Chuck Jones) have a staff for this, well, many of us don't. As such, have you planned for the hereafter, and if so, how?"
There's software out there to do any task you like if not deactivated in a certain time period. I think it's on arsware.org, or google.
That is EXACTLY what I am reminded of when I read this article. Perhaps that is what I would do. It'd be fun, and I'd get the last laugh if my relatives are too stupid to figure it all out. Plus, I love puzzles, so it would be a perfect way to have someone guess my password.
For those that don't know what I'm talking about, Da Vinci Code is a book by Dan Brown that has been in the news quite a bit since it hit the market a couple of year ago because of it's questioning the Christian religion. The book is a murder mystery (thriller?) and the way to solve it is to follow a fairly cryptic path of riddles and clues. The guy that dies (this is the first thing you read in the book) is the curator for the Louvre (sp) and he died in a very weird way (which is where the clues start pouring in)
"Time is long and life is short, so begin to live while you still can." -EV
My passwords are all stored in Keyring for Palm OS in my Treo (with the database backed up to a PC), and the master password is written down in a "useful information" appendix to the original copy of my will, along with my bank account details. My original will lives in the walk-in safe in my parents house, and both my executors know it's there.
;-)
The will contains a person nominated to take ownership of my machines and conclude my online affairs, including notifying interested parties and posting a message on my website.
So don't worry guys, if the hit succeeds, you'll find out fairly quick
Gerv
I believe the common term for this is a dead man's switch.
I work at a domain name registrar, and if someone doesnt have the username and password and the registrant is deceased, we need a death certificate along with our normal info to get the log-in. It's not a foolproof system, but it's been a pretty rare occurrence. Most of the Internet crowd is pretty young.
-- http://uncannyvalley.org/
That said, I have a little fire safe that I keep important stuff in, like car titles, contracts and cd-rom backups of my computer files.
If the safe is just one of those standard melt-to-seal-with-little-water-vapor-beads fire safes, you'll be disappointed to see your CD backups molten and warped into uselessness after a fire. I'm pretty sure those safes are designed just for paper and other things that don't melt and need a fairly high temperature before burning.
The best policy is to keep backups somewhere else, such as another building separate from the house. If you have outbuildings that are not close to the house, that's one option. Bank boxes are another option for saps in the 'burbs. Just remember physical security, since pathetic teenagers just might walk away with your backups! In other words, put a lock on that barn door.
Vote in November. You won't regret it.
The only reliable way to protect your data from fire is have offsite backups.
Actually, you need to apologize to the Meat Puppets ;-p
If you can't figure out my address, just drop me an e-mail and I will explain.
Not that it's relevent to the question at hand, but I never could understand what would cause someone to take their own life.
Most of the replies have been anonymous trolls, so I'll give you an actual answer with a name behind it.
I went through four years of clinical depression with suicidal intent. Eventually, you get to the point when all you really remember is pain, and you believe that all you ever will feel is more pain. You have difficulty getting up and out of bed, and if you're not showing up and interacting with people, your previous relationships get shot to hell.
If there's going to be no end to the torment, why not leave it behind?
You can contact me through my site if you have additional questions for a depression survivor. I'll close this with a poem I wrote in the midst of my depression that I think explains things a little more as well.
- Neil Wehneman
**********
Depression Kills
Do not let yourself be lulled into thinking that depression is simply a fancy way of saying that someone is "sad."
Mere sadness does not last for weeks or months or years.
Do not think that people with depression should just "snap out of it."
Don't you think that if we could we would?
And do not think that depression is simply a disease of the mind.
It literally destroys your immune system, depletes your energy, leaving only fatigue, and decimates your ties with friends and family.
Depression is not just an illness.
Depression kills.
My legal education, in nifty podcast format
As an estate planning lawyer, I can tell you that this probably wouldn't work. First of all, the client gets a copy of his will, assuming the original will is kept in the attorney's safe. So the copy would have the passwords written on it and it wouldn't be safe.
Second, most states require that original wills be lodged with the court within a certain amount of time after your date of death. Your will would then be accessable to the public (for example, you can buy a certified copy of George Washington's will, if you want one).
Third if you're paranoid, telling the lawyer your passwords and have them kept for safekeeping by some other means would result in a situation where the lawyer's staff would probably have access to your passwords, even while you're still alive.
What I think we have here is a business opportunity. A company can maintain a completely off-line registry of passwords in envelopes that aren't even opened by the company that are turned over only after your executor delivers your death certificate to the company. I'm operating under the assumption that any on-line registry of passwords is simply insane and cannot be truly secure under any circumstances.
Of course, this company already exists: It's your bank. Just write down your passwords, put them in sealed envelopes, and put the envelopes in a bank safe deposit box. If the box is titled solely in your name, no one would have access to it except for your conservator (if you get put into a conservatorship), your agent under a power of attorney, or your executor/trustee after your death.
144l. ph34r my 133t l3g4l 5k1lz!
I use Secstore
it's easy to use
to add a file to the encrypted file store
auth/secstore -p $filename
to retrieve it for editing/viewing/piping
ipso $filename
it also stores all my network passwords for ssh & pop3 & ftp access
it's a really neat bit of kit
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
Heh... I can't believe this is Insightful when it really should be Funny since it's a joke partially stolen from Coupling.
Karma: It's all a bunch of tree-huggin' hippy crap!
Document containers consist of two thin layers of steel, which have a hydrated compound stored between them; used to be plaster of Paris, or calcium sulfate hemihydrate (same as gypsum sheetrock). Upon heating, the hydrate gives up its water, flooding the inside of the container with water vapor. This serves two purposes. The first is that the heat of vaporization absorbs large amounts of heat, so the container heats up less rapidly. The second is that the water vapor displaces oxygen, making it less likely that documents will burn- unless, of course, the container fails. Remember- it's just two pieces of sheet steel. A fire safe is not necessarily a burglar-resistant safe, and most of the common safes on the market can be manipulated ("cracked") very easily by even a novice- they're not SUPPOSED to prevent theft. One needs to purchase a UL-rated burglar resistant container for that sort of thing. Safes can combine theft and fire resistance ratings; consult a security professional (like a SAVTA member) for the appropriate safe.
Also important to remember is the location: If a safe is on the 2nd or 3rd floor, once that floor burns through, the container will fall. If it cracks open- there goes your contents. So- put it in the basement. BUT- make sure you don't have heavy objects located above it (refrigerators, etc.), which will crack it open. Put the safe on blocks if you can so that the contents aren't soaked from the firefighters flooding the basement!
Media containers should follow the same general rules (be careful where you put it, etc.), but work on a different principle. Last I checked (it could have changed), media containers use wood as insulation. This keeps the contents at an acceptable temperature, provided everything works. Wood is a great insulator, and it burns relatively slowly unless it is divided in a manner than allows combustion.
None of this means that every fire-rated safe will survive. In fact, a review of areas swept by wildfires in California in... 1991, IIRC, showed that even home-made safes worked as well in some instances as UL-rated containers. However, the best containers were all positioned in the slab, or in some other large, non-combustible heat sink. In-floor safes fare well, although exceptions (such as where the dial melted and dripped into the money stored within, causing most of it to burn) were noted.
So- in short, look for the UL rating. No, the $50 toy safe at the discount store isn't the same as the $500 media vault from a locksmith, even if they ARE both rated. No, the people who sold you the $50 safe will know nothing about how it works, or how well it will protect your data, or how to open it and retrieve your property if your house *does* burn down. No, the $50 safe will not come with a professional who knows how to open your container if something DOES happen to go wrong with it. A professional SAVTA member will be able to help you with all of this, as well as sell you the appropriate container.
But, of course, if you want to try the $50 safe, go right ahead if it helps you sleep better. They have to meet the minimum standards from Underwriter's Labs (UL 72 for Class 125 and Class 150 containers). And it will depend upon where you live (across from a fire station in a Class 1 noncombustible structure, versus Uncle Marty's trailer home, 25 minutes from the nearest volunteer fire department), of course. But for GOD'S SAKE, don't assume that because the label says "FIRE SAFE," that they're all the same, or that they'll save your data no matter what.
Disclaimer: No, I'm not a SAVTA member, and I don't currently work as a locksmith or a safe/vault technician.
I must first preface this by saying I am a big physical security geek.
Many firesafes (especially the cheap ones)do not have an "endothermic reaction", but simply a water slurry in a liner between the outside and inside of the safe. If you remember your physics, specific heat of water is 4190J/kg K, and the heat of fusion is 330000J/kg or so. The vast majority of firesafes keep your documents cool and firefree by converting the water in their liners to steam, some of which does enter the inside of the safe in many cheap (think Sentry) models. Some firesafes have a tendency to be rather damp inside, so shopping around is a good idea.
And just to keep it on topic: All my usernames and passwords are kept in a sealed envelope in a safe that is kept in a seperate location from where I live. Sure a fire would toast it, but if I happen to die on the same night that a fire destroys those documents, well looks like everyone is SOL
Unless those papers are in a safe to which no one remembers the combination. It'll be hard to get in that safe without incinerating the papers inside. Drilling and/or cutting the lock open will take several hours. (It'll be about like using a drimmel tool to cut a hole in a battle ship.)
OK, I know shouldn't do this, but what the hell.
I'm familiar with that list. I spent some time on alt.suicide.holiday (or ASH, as we call it). Unfortunately it doesn't include my favorite book on the topic, Dr. Geo Stone's Suicide and Attempted Suicide: Methods and Consequences.
Amazon.com link
So in response Mr. Anonymous Troll, I've been in the grip of despair and with the help of others (and I'm not ashamed to admit the Son of God Himself) I've beaten it.
Until you've got something constructive to say, get back under your rock.
- Neil Wehneman
My legal education, in nifty podcast format
One thing that has been very difficult for me as well is waking up. I've often felt physically chained to the bed, struggling for consciousness but unable to break through and get moving.
I would often fall back into dreams where I would be moving and interacting with what appeared to be my house. I would have to try to find logical inconsistencies with my environment to try to prove to myself that I was still dreaming, so I could force myself awake. And then I would simply awake to another dream.
If that wasn't hell, I'm not certain what is.
Take care of yourself.
- Neil Wehneman
My legal education, in nifty podcast format
It was not meant as a personal slam (I never referred to "you"). That said, your post sounded ignorant. That may be due ignorance or simply being careless and imprecise in your writing. If it's the latter (and I kind of assumed this), then my reply worked perfectly in this context.
The reply was formulated from these facts/assumptions:
1) Passwords don't protect data. Passwords can be part of a cryptosystem. In general, it is not required to use passwords/phrases for encryption so it is not quite correct to say "password protected" when one means "encrypted".
2) From my experience, the adoption of high grade encryption products is poor at least compared to the number of computer users that have a password on their: WinXP/Mac/Linux box, bank account, e-File tax records, blog, kazaa, ISP. None of these passwords typically prevent data access given physical access to the media or a request.
Tools like PGP call it a passphrase anyway. And, as in #1, "password" is not a general clue for encryption, IMHO. So if you meant encryption, you shoulda said "encryption."
3) What kind of records for important services are only available through passwords (encrypted or otherwise) of a digital system, such that losing the password makes them inaccessible? Even if the bank and insurance company use encryption (and I know, they do), it is not something the customer ties into directly. Your online banking password does not lock your account from the bank itself nor is it involved in the bank's storage and record keeping.
Maybe you accuse me of a straw man argument, but I couldn't think of critical "digital affects [sic]" that would be lost when a person dies and if it was something personal and essential like a Will why would they be locked with "personal encryption" as opposed to some kind of shared or distributed key cryptosystem.
You also say the cases were "extremely difficult" which is not the same as "impossible". Which means that I guess the "digital affects [sic]" were eventually accessible. Which means that if we assume strong encryption tools were used as opposed to a Win98 password (as you in later posts seem to imply by "password") they were either a) used improperly in such a way you could get around them, b) you and your lawyers can break strong encryption. If its a) well then that highlights my point about not "hiding the key" an allusion to poor key management (which means the "encryption" wasn't really encryption at all). If its b), then what is the point of the encryption if there is a tractable method of breaking it that you can do over the course of settling the estate? There is of course c) you found the data somewhere else "unprotected" but that kinda goes against your point. That would be no different than if the data was never encrypted but you had a hard time finding the disk it was stored on.
This is all silly anyways, because a Will or other critical documents can get destroyed. I fail to see how the "digital" challenges are fundamentally different or more far reaching than any of the many other challenges that an estate attorney encounters. You provide very little in the way of examples.
If I write a will or keep any critical documents in an absolutely unbreakable encrypted form (or password as you call it) then it really is as if I had never written it in the first place (it simply doesn't exist). Typically, when one uses encryption, its a given that the encryption is unbreakable in some particular domain (given the whole class of adversary/cost thing) otherwise why would one use it.
So what does this have to do with death and estate settlement. Why would someone unknowingly encrypt something in a way that it would be inaccessible to others unless they didn't want those "others" to see it? But your post was talking about ensuring your "digital affects" wouldn't be lost: like preventing against "accidental" strong encryption. Except for stuff that I explicitly encrypt (because I want it to die with me, which means good luck/tough shit f
You are correct that there are two types of depression, but your labels are incorrect.
Clinical depression is a simply a legal/medical term that means it has been diagnosed by a physician (or perhaps a psychologist), and is on your medical record somewhere. It has nothing to do with chemical imbalances per se.
Situational depression is the normal depression that occurs after a negative life-event such as the death of a loved one. It is normally temporary.
I think what you really mean to say is that there is chronic depression (often caused by chemical imbalances) and situational depression (caused by life-events). Situational depression can trigger or exacerbate chronic depression.
Update the contents monthly or as needed. An out-of-date password list is just as bad as a missing one.
Plan for the worst case: your home is destroyed and you are killed. A cheery thought.
Protect all your passwords with Keyring for PalmOS or a similar application, and lock the master password to Keyring in a safe in a bank.
When you die, your children/spouse/parents/etc get the keys to the safe, open it, get the master password and unlock Keyring. Then they get access to all your digital stuff.