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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.
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!
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.)