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Your Data and Cyber Business After You're Gone

Posted by michael on from the squeamish-ossifrage dept.

Reader Mountain Splash writes "The New York Times has a decent thought-inspiring article questioning what happens to our stored data and who owns the rights to it after we die. I have to admit that, while this dilemma had already crossed my mind many months ago, I've been rather slow to do something about handling it. While considering the same, though, what I did do was start a very detailed list of my many various emailboxes, IM monikers, cyber buddies, and yes, passwords (complete with encrypted hints to be stored separately). I have also already approached my roomie and my sister about following up with that list for me as a last wish if and when the inevitable should occur. Just wondering if everyone else has done the same or similar... Anyone gone so far as to have already filed their information along with their will with their family lawyer?"

77 of 290 comments (clear)

  1. well.. by mastergoon · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I don't really care enough about what happens to my e-mail after I die to bother with all that crap. I don't really think anybody really is going to need my encrypted data after I died, or they would have had a key while I was alive.

    1. Re:well.. by Fuzion · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Wouldn't the bank records and statements still be available at the bank? I'd image that this could be handled just like any other bank account where the bank will transfer the funds according to the will or the appropriate laws.

      --
      "Knowledge makes us accountable." - Che Guevara
  2. Dupe? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Yeah, I think so. 599 comments on the subject. Let's just all refer to that, shall we?

    1. Re:Dupe? by JGski · · Score: 2, Funny
      Most obvious and likely scenario: the NYT writer saw the /. discussion and "plagarized" it to meet his/her deadline.

      :-p

  3. Also seen by L-s-L69 · · Score: 2, Informative

    HERE

  4. Gloomy by not_a_product_id · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I have also already approached my roomie and my sister about following up with that list for me as a last wish Rather gloomy but it did get me thinking about all the friends I only communicate with via email. If I look the wrong way crossing the road I'll just vanish from their sight.

    --

    ---
    We spoke for about a half an hour. I don't recall a thing we said. - Colorblind James Experience

    1. Re:Gloomy by Bradee-oh! · · Score: 4, Funny

      If I look the wrong way crossing the road I'll just vanish from their sight.

      You only look ONE way when crossing the road?

      --
      "This is Zombo Com, and welcome to you who have come to Zombo Com" - www.zombo.com
    2. Re:Gloomy by bigman2003 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Oh no- all of the people on my Xbox Live friends list will have to do without me. Maybe I should wear a heart-beat monitor for realsies so my Rainbow Six 3 clan knows when I kick the bucket.

      "Dude...Noodle must just be taking a crap, he's been AFK for 3 rounds"

      "No man, I just checked. He is REALLY dead. Too bad he's hosting this server, otherwise I'd just kick him right now."

      "Hey- call his wife, and have her change this to a dedicated server...we could use this forever!"

      --
      No reason to lie.
    3. Re:Gloomy by heathcaldwell · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "A good programmer looks both ways before crossing a one way street." -- I forget who said this.

      - Heath Caldwell

  5. A bit off topic by mkro · · Score: 4, Funny

    Not really related to stored data and passwords, but a friend of mine has a deal with his sister, that if he unexpectedly dies, she will clean all porn out of his apartment and get rid of it so the rest of the family will never know.

    --
    I shall go and tell the indestructible man that someone plans to murder him.
    1. Re:A bit off topic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      > You mean that, even in this day and age, there is still a negative stigma attached to the desire to look at naked people? Weird.

      You mean that, even in this day and age, there is still a negative stigma attached to the desire to look at naked people having bondage sex with animals ? Weird.

    2. Re:A bit off topic by genesplicer · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I have the same arrangement with an old roommate of mine - we both keep our pr0n in a specific directory of the same name and location. In the unfortunate event that one of us passes away, the other is to delete that directory before family members get ahold of the computer (or, more likely, make a backup copy for themselves, then delete :) ) ...

      --
      Me? Debunk an American myth? And take my life in my hands?
    3. Re:A bit off topic by Afty0r · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Not really related to stored data and passwords, but a friend of mine has a deal with his sister, that if he unexpectedly dies, she will clean all porn out of his apartment and get rid of it so the rest of the family will never know.

      I notice this is moderated funny, but this is actually BANG ON. My housemate died suddenly earlier this year, and his family came for all his things a while later... in the meantime I cleaned all the porn off his desktop and laptop (had to break in as he was running passworded Windows XP) as I knew he had some.... alternative.... tastes that his very Catholic family would not like.
      I completely forgot about the approx. 20 CDs that were in his CD wallets alongside loads of feature films - and the family got them.
      Luckily the stuff on CDs was really the tamer kind of thing... only a little anecdote, but goes to show how close to the bone the parent comment is.
    4. Re:A bit off topic by dr_dank · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I'm told this is customary in the military. If someone is killed, his army buddy or CO will clear out the pics with thai prostitutes and other offending items from their personal effects so their memory won't be tarnished.

      --
      Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
    5. Re:A bit off topic by casuist99 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I saw a program for just this purpose posted on slashdot a while back. It was called Dead Man's Switch if I recall. If you use it or some similar piece of software you'd be pretty protected.
      Basically, it will encrypt (and I think delete if you want) any files on your computer that you don't want to exist after your death. It's a timer you re-set every week or so. Seems like a good idea - not just for people who don't want porn to stay on their computer, but also if you had anything sensitive on your computer. I've tried it and it seems to work pretty well.

    6. Re:A bit off topic by arekq · · Score: 3, Funny
      I've tried it and it seems to work pretty well.
      You mean... you died? :-)
  6. Use Attorney for business (and personal financial) by surfinbox · · Score: 5, Interesting

    For business related death I have prepared extensive documentation on servers, passwords, accounts, banking relationships, etc. and have filed that in my bank lock-box. I have informed my attorney whom I wish to have handle those affairs in my absence (a trusted friend/partner). The attorney has that on record in my will. The asset disposal itself is a normal course of handling the estate, but telling Amazon, PayPal, Authorize.net, and others who have my finanicals to shut off my account is no small effort. Finding the trusted friend is not trivial either.

  7. All my important Data by Prince+Vegeta+SSJ4 · · Score: 4, Funny

    is stored on a 40GB CF card, which stays around my neck, when I am creamated - it goes with me. All of the backups are on offbrand DVD-R's so they will be unreadable after 6 months anyway

    1. Re:All my important Data by PsychoKiller · · Score: 2, Funny

      is stored on a 40GB CF card, which stays around my neck, when I am creamated - it goes with me.

      Is that when your body is rendered into artificial dairy creamer? :-P

  8. We need to learn to let go by beeplet · · Score: 5, Insightful

    While terminally ill, Mr. Cochran, a programmer, left a full list of passwords for his work files with his employer, Mr. Purnell said. But he failed to do the same thing with the personal files, so they are now inaccessible.

    Maybe he didn't want anyone reading his personal files? That seems like the most obvious explanation to me.

    I think that as a culture, we need to learn how to let go of things. In the past, information was more ephemeral; books would decay or be lost over time. Just because we have the capacity virtually eternal data storage doesn't mean we should.

    In a way, I think holding on to every minute detail of someone's life devalues the things of importance they left behind. Do you think they really want to be remembered by their tax returns? Would they have wanted their grandchildren to inherit their file of meeting notes? If someone wants to leave important digital information to posterity, they should put that intent in their will, and (*gasp*) maybe even make a hard copy of it.

    Obviously if someone dies suddenly, that may not be an option. But my point is that we, the survivors, need to relearn how to distinguish between valuable data and stuff better left forgotten.

    1. Re:We need to learn to let go by MacBorg · · Score: 2, Informative

      We may not need every minute detail from someone's files, but the family or associates might want stuff like family pictures, scientific research, family tree data... stuff like that. I don't hold on to everything, but I'm hoping taht people will look at my photo work (semiPro) in the future... but hopefully this won't be an issue for me for several score of years to come.

    2. Re:We need to learn to let go by Unnngh! · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I was wondering the same. This should be doable, to my knowledge, on any HDD that hasn't been encrypted or damaged. Even if some of the data was encrypted, it may not be very hard to crack depending on the algorithms used. Nonetheless, if he was trying to protect his data it would seem that his wishes were for nobody else to have it, and it was probably best left unread.

    3. Re:We need to learn to let go by Smitedogg · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Maybe he didn't want anyone reading his personal files? That seems like the most obvious explanation to me.

      Or he died unexpectedly, and had made clear at many points that the information on his computer was extremely important to him. You'd honor your brother or uncles wish, right? Same thing here. Code he's worked on, things he valued, information he wanted kept 'alive', as it were.

      Someone else mentioned that I could just take the HDD out and put it in another box to recover the files. I could do that, but it's really a matter of time. I ran crack and john against it, tried a few tricks like booting into single user mode, etc etc, but that's all stuff I can do while I'm twiddling away at something else. Between school, my daughter, and 'life', I'm pretty busy and haven't had the time to do some old fashioned data recovery. I have a few days free coming up, I'll probably do it then.

      Tomm / Dogg
    4. Re:We need to learn to let go by sanctimonius+hypocrt · · Score: 2, Informative

      I think that as a culture, we need to learn how to let go of things.

      I read this poem by Tom Clark in Andrei Codrescu's "Up Late":

      Great moment in Blade Runner where Roy Batty is expiring,
      And talks about how everything he's seen will die with him-
      Ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion;
      C-beams glittering before the Tannhauser gates.

      Memory is like molten gold burning its way through the skin;
      It stops there.
      There is no transfer.
      Nothing I have seen will be remembered beyond me.

      That merciful cleaning of the windows of creation will be
      An excellent thing,
      My interests notwithstanding.
      But then again I've never been near Orion, or the Tannhauser gates,
      I've only been here.

      Credit to A9.com for finding the quote.


    5. Re:We need to learn to let go by Councilor+Hart · · Score: 2, Informative

      In a way, I think holding on to every minute detail of someone's life devalues the things of importance they left behind. Do you think they really want to be remembered by their tax returns? Would they have wanted their grandchildren to inherit their file of meeting notes? If someone wants to leave important digital information to posterity, they should put that intent in their will, and (*gasp*) maybe even make a hard copy of it.
      Perhaps your family won't be interested, but historians might.
      Tax forms can learn a lot about society, I would think.

    6. Re:We need to learn to let go by beeplet · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Good point. By saying information used to be more "ephemeral", I meant to refer to the total quantity of information that a person might encounter during their life. In the past, a much smaller fraction of that data would have been recorded and preserved, because the costs were greater.

      What I should have said was that data is much easier and cheaper to create in the modern era. Paper publishing takes more time and resources, and so there tends to be some minimum threshold for what's important enough to store that way, and whatever doesn't make the cut is essentially "lost". Electronic data storage has recently gotten affordable enough to offer essentially unlimited capacity.

      So it's much easier for someone living now to accumulate and store gigabytes of personal miscellany than it was 100 or even 10 years ago. The costs of the medium itself no longer requires us to distinguish between "important" data and all the other stuff, and we are still stuck in the mindset that all data is valuable and should be preserved. This is why I think that even though we are (temporarily) released from the economic pressure to let data be "forgotten", we need to free ourselves from the compulsion to save anything and everything.

    7. Re:We need to learn to let go by Moridineas · · Score: 2, Informative

      Let me give you an alternative pov. As a historian, it is precisely these things that you devalue that others value. For instance only recently I was researching an incident during th 1856 presidential election, and a university professor in the South (specifics aren't terribly important for my point). This professor left a copy of all his letters, and they were quite extensive to Duke University library upon his death--these letters are personal, to his sisters, wife, children, etc. And they offer an incredible window into the issues and the time.

      Now clearly this was his choice, but as you say, in previous times it was more difficult to make copies. Today we take it for granted that stuff will be around forever--this isn't the case, and it's kinda scary how much might be lost.

  9. Encrypted hints? by Gannoc · · Score: 5, Funny

    (complete with encrypted hints to be stored separately)

    "Wait, i'll read it out loud!"

    "TO UNCOVER ALL MY PASSWORDS LOVE,
    LOOK UP INTO THE STARS ABOVE!
    THE CHEERING CROWDS GAZE WITH FUN
    FROM LOCATION THIRTY ONE!"

    "Stars above? What does it mean!"

    "I've got it! To the Planetarium! The next clue must be under seat thirty one!"

    "Man, i'm so glad Bill died. I'm having the time of my life!"

    1. Re:Encrypted hints? by Tackhead · · Score: 3, Funny
      > "TO UNCOVER ALL MY PASSWORDS LOVE,
      > LOOK UP INTO THE STARS ABOVE!
      > THE CHEERING CROWDS GAZE WITH FUN
      > FROM LOCATION THIRTY ONE!"
      >
      > "Stars above? What does it mean!"
      >
      > "I've got it! To the Planetarium! The next clue must be under seat thirty one!"
      >
      > "Man, i'm so glad Bill died. I'm having the time of my life!"

      Problem is, if someone's closed the planetarium or just changed the seating arrangements in the past decade, the game breaks down.

      Except for one thing: In the decades of evolution after the extinction of that particular movie genre, we've developed:

      1) "Shared-secret" cryptosystems. You don't need all of the key. And even if your clues are chained together, you can make up strings of clues that intersect. (If the Planetarium Clue leads you to the Zoo Clue, you can still find the Zoo Clue if a third Clue also points people to the Zoo.)

      2) Geocaching.

      3) Widely-known and widely-distributed images that can never be truly "erased" from history, unlike the clue buried under the planetarium.

      4) If your estate isn't worth several million dollars, nobody's gonna bother flying halfway across the country for each clue. But by using #3 and only a little bit of geocaching, a little Perl scripting might be worth doing.

      BRIM'S EXCLUSIVE QUAKER OATS,
      NATALIE PORTMAN POURS SOME GOATS!
      IN SOVIET RUSSIA, CYCLES YOU,
      ALL YOUR BASE ARE THIRTY-TWO!

      "OMFG, if we XOR the ASCII for 'wilfrid', as in the Quaker Oats guy 'Wilfrid Brimley', and we XOR it with 'hotgrit', and XOR *that* with the Goatse Guy's picture, all we need to do is take a CRC-32 of the resulting file and we have the next four bytes of the key! w00t!"

      Man, I so have to update my will.

  10. I've considered this very thing by The+I+Shing · · Score: 4, Funny

    Last year I gave my supervisor a sealed, labeled envelope containing the various usernames and passwords I use, and the various ways that I change them from time to time, just in case something happens to me.

    When I first gave it to her, she immediately ripped it open, not fully comprehending what it was. I had to snatch it out of her hands, exclaiming, "I'm not dead yet!" I sealed it into another envelope and she put it in her drawer, where it has remained untouched to this day (I assume).

    --
    You are in error. No-one is screaming. Thank you for your cooperation.
    1. Re:I've considered this very thing by DrEldarion · · Score: 3, Funny

      Of course, for all we know, she could have opened up the envelope and wrote that comment.

      "When he f^H^H^H^HI first gave it..."

  11. Company Policy by verBirk · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This is something that I maintain through my company as a matter of policy. The company maintains life insurance for me and also an electronic access store to be certain that company information is always accessible in an emergency. The convenient side-effect is that my personal information is also protected in this way. And yes, I do trust this information to the company and we do have policies covering assurety of this information being purged by the lawyers when we get sacked, etc. This works in the same way that my wife gets my company provided life insurance, my 401k, and my personal information cache.

  12. Re:Registration Free Link by joynt · · Score: 2, Informative

    Make that HERE

  13. Old data never dies. by weeboo0104 · · Score: 2, Funny

    It is immortalized in duped articles on /.

    --
    It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. -Frederick Douglass
  14. The reality is... by eclectic_echidna · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The reality is...

    Nobody cares about your data. They just want your money, which is easy enough to find.

    After reading through GiBs of your old mail, they will see that you have a secret swiss bank account with some cash????

    Yeah sure...

    Don't overestimate your importance in this world.

    --
    ee

    --
    Antiquated competence won't be a job skill forever.
    1. Re:The reality is... by Atzanteol · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Ouch. Perhaps you shouldn't underestimate your importance either? Friends and family tend to like you for more than your money. Well, maybe not *you*, but most of us probably have people who truly care for us.

      --
      "Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge"

      - Charles Darwin
  15. Old Movie websites by dilweed · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Ever visited a website for a movie that had been released 3 or 4 years ago? The sites just sit there on a server somwhere, ignored largely.

    I had a friend commit suicide rather suddenly a few years ago. His site is still up at AOL. I can still read messages he posted and see pictures of him here and there on the net. He left quite a digital legacy.

    It's truely intersting, the things we leave behind and we don't realize it.

  16. What do I care? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I mean, I'm going to be quite dead.

    1. Re:What do I care? by gnu-generation-one · · Score: 2, Funny

      "What do I care? I mean, I'm going to be quite dead."

      Dead, and benefitting from another 70 years of copyright on everything you wrote.

  17. In my will, no family lawyer by dustmote · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I have information about all of my various electronic assets and how they should be handled in my will, which has a copy on my computer, a hard copy in my desk, and a hard copy in a safe deposit box. I don't have a whole lot to distribute, except for my life insurance payout, but I have various instructions on where some of my stuff should go, who gets certain books, etc. It's a fairly informal will, but I expect my family will respect my wishes on it, since there aren't multimillion dollar assets to fight over. The copy in my desk is written and signed in my own handwriting, as I understand this is a little more legally binding. It's not a very detailed or complex solution to what to do with the detritus of my life should I drastically change tax status (die), but at 26, I figure an informal solution is pretty good, especially since I have almost no real assets to leave behind.

    --


    -1, "1337" speak
  18. Not much changed... by beatleadam · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ...since the last time Slashdot covered this topic.

    But in my case, I can say that I have made some inroads in both the living world (insurance mods, finance mods, Living Will conversations and the like) and the after I am gone (in this body anyways) world. The largest step that I have taken in the after I am gone world is to comprehend that as of right this moment at least, I have NOTHING that anyone would really want or need to see as far as data or anything "electronic". Really, all I have done is set up a Safety Deposit box that will eventually hold the Legal papers and insurance docs.

    --
    I have a theory that the truth is never told during the nine-to-five hours. -- Hunter S. Thompson
  19. notifying cyberfriends by Bjortolf · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'm not that concernes about what happens to my data and emails after I die, not much interresting there. What I am thinking about is making a list of email addresses to the people that I'm only corresponding with by email and don't know any of my family/other friends and give to my sisters or something. I have some friends on the other side of the world and I think they should be notified if the inevitably should happen.

  20. Who owns? by abscondment · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Once survivors gain access to the data, questions may also arise about who actually owns it. If a person saved a book manuscript on a hard drive and left the machine to a friend, for instance, the friend might try to claim ownership of the manuscript as well.

    Think about it this way:

    The computer is a container. It holds the information that is put into it; nothing more, nothing less. If I indicate that my bookshelves are going to my younger brother after my death, does that mean the books are too? If I bequeath him my dresser, does he get the clothes as well? I doubt it.

    Information property is tricky business. It takes up little (no) physical space, so it's easy to forget. Instead of simply erasing disks or automatically passing along whatever they contain, computers need to be emptied just like the rooms of a house would be. Then everything needs to be sorted through--it doesn't all automatically go to whoever gets the house.

  21. My plan... by hookedup · · Score: 4, Funny

    Everybody needs a porn buddy. Upon hearing about your death, said buddy goes to your house, ignores your wife, and proceeds to rip the harddrive out of your computer and leave.

    Tools not necessary..

  22. Re:I've thought about this as well. by Gannoc · · Score: 4, Funny

    I have some good friends online that I value just as much as my real life friends. If I were to up and die today, I would never see them again (of course), and they would probably never know what became of me.

    (Lawyer reading will:)

    "And to Galadrian, my fine elvish friend, I leave you my crown of deception and my axe of slaughter. Don't weep at my passing. Try to rememeber the good times, like when we defeated the orcs during that GM event."

  23. Bus theory by belgar · · Score: 2, Interesting

    That's what we call it in our office.

    "If I step off the curb tonight, and get hit by a bus, will anyone know what the hell to do with this?" If the answer is "Fuck, no!" then the aformentioned-ill-fated-coworker needs to write it down.

    --
    What does it mean to wake out of a dream
    and be wearing someone else's shorts?
    BNL, Born on a Pirate Ship (1998)
  24. Some People Are Too Full Of Themselves... by pandrijeczko · · Score: 2, Insightful
    My "personal data" consists of a few letters to bank managers, utility companies, etc, a selection of ROMs for MAME and some holiday photos... who cares who has them when I've "joined the choir invisibule"...

    People that are worried about their data posthumously are:

    1) Too self-obsessed and too boring to have anything interesting in their data including spreadsheets of the roughage contents in their twice-daily stool analysis, or

    2) Have humungous pr0n collections and are afraid of "Joe Average was a dirty pervert" rumours spreading once they're dead.

    How about we just kill those people and just see what happens to their data?

    --
    Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
  25. Err..the inevitable? by op00to · · Score: 2, Funny

    I have also already approached my roomie and my sister about following up with that list for me as a last wish if and when the inevitable should occur.

    Buddy, believe me when I tell you this, it's not an if question, it's definately a when question.

  26. The "Hit by a bus" file by doublem · · Score: 4, Interesting

    We have what's called the "Hit by a bus" file where I work. It's supposed to be a set of sealed envelopes to be opened in the event of an emergency.

    Sadly, we had a server die while the Network Admin was on vacation, and we discovered his was blank. Seems he wants to take all our configuration, login and server data to his grave.

    And it STILL hasn't been updated

    --
    "Live Free or Die." Don't like it? Then keep out of the USA
    1. Re:The "Hit by a bus" file by MooseByte · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "We have what's called the "Hit by a bus" file where I work. It's supposed to be a set of sealed envelopes to be opened in the event of an emergency."

      We have those too, only they're called "internal documentation" and stored in a readily reviewable format in a controlled setting.

      "Sadly, we had a server die while the Network Admin was on vacation, and we discovered his was blank. Seems he wants to take all our configuration, login and server data to his grave."

      Dude, if your freakin' network config map and other critical info is supposed to be placed in a sealed envelope WITHOUT review, and stuck in a mayonaisse jar like some Amazing Kreskin skit, I'd run far and fast from your employer.

      Yep boss, I've got the whole project completed. It's all documented in this sealed manila envelope which you are NOT to open until my death. So, about my bonus review...

  27. Bah! I'll live forever anyways! by Lispy · · Score: 3, Funny

    according to yesterdays news. ;-)

  28. live on by ForsakenRegex · · Score: 3, Funny

    I think I'd rather put plans into place to hide my death. Then I want my lawyer to keep track of how long it takes any of my "friends" to actually notice I'm gone. At a later date, he will get them all together (if they will even come) and berate them all with the information. My will shall award him a bonus for each person brought to tears. Then he is to kick them all out empty handed while laughing at them maniacally . He will then award everything to some reasonably intelligent (yet to be defined) low-income person who deserves (also yet to be defined) a break. He can then assume my online identity where it may benefit him as he so chooses.

    More likely, it will all go to the government because I'll put off creating a will until I'm already dead.

    --
    "A man talking sense to himself is no madder than a man talking nonsense not to himself."
  29. Last will and testament - FSF by dotslash · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I have explicitely stated in my will that all intellectual property work that I have created which has not been assigned by me to another party (ie any employers who have rights to the work) shall immediatelly be released under an open source license and the ownership of the copyright shall be transfered to the FSF for them to do as they choose.

    I have told my relatives about my wishes and the location of my data. I have put passwords in escrow with a close friend.

  30. Not to put a fine point on it... by teamhasnoi · · Score: 2, Interesting
    but who's dead on Slashdot? Anyone know someone who posted to /. and is now dead?

    I myself have 2030+ posts here, and boiled down, it shows that I was funny, a musician, and angry at how those in power treat those who aren't.

    I guess that is about what people will say about me when I'm gone (plus the unavoidable references to my incredible sexual prowess, my stunning good looks, and my amazing plan to save the world with cold fusion).

    So, then. Dead people's /. posts?

  31. "Life Scrubbing" Insurance Skit by MooseByte · · Score: 3, Funny


    Saturday Night Live had a skit commercial on that years ago, featuring Will Farrell I believe. It was an insurance service that, upon your death, would swoop into your home and remove any and all "embarrassing" artifacts before your relatives arrived.

    They showed the crew hauling out bongs, rather large marital aids, probably an inflatable goat or two from Farrell's apartment. Then a full cleanup to show that, even in death, you were a "good clean boy".

    Actually this sounds like a rather lucrative business potential.... :-)

    1. Re:"Life Scrubbing" Insurance Skit by adamofgreyskull · · Score: 2, Informative

      Same was broached on Coupling. Jeff's Steve's "Porn Buddy". I'm pretty sure my brother would perform this function for me, but not out of any altruistic sense of duty...

  32. All my porn... by Saeed+al-Sahaf · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...is belonging to you.

    --
    "Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
  33. ME & My Data Will live forever by Prince+Vegeta+SSJ4 · · Score: 4, Funny
    I have separated my data into four separted *.rar files.
    • Britney.Porn.secret.rar
    • all.software.adobe.crack.windows.rar
    • american.idol.secret.pics.rar
    • lord.rings.unreleased.fourth-book.rar

      Posted them on Kazaa, DC++, Emule, Limewire, Edonkey, Shareaze, Xolox, WinMX. Along with a picture of myself. WE WILL LIVE FOREVER!!!!!

  34. We a experiencing a cultural transition. by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 3, Interesting


    I made a password list for a customer, that, over time, has grown to 3,849 words. (There is a lot of explanation about how accounts are configured.)

    I encrypted that list with an unguessable password that includes punctuation and numbers, using the excellent GnuPG.

    I sent the encrypted file by email to every responsible person who works for the customer, including the CEO. I demanded that everyone learn the master password, because otherwise, if something happened to me, they would have problems with their accounts and web site. I also copied the file to their hard drives.

    Although I have made several demands in strong language, no one, NO ONE, has bothered to get the master password from me, even though I have suggested it in person to several people several times. So, they have the file, but have no access to it.

    The fact is, the new world of computing (okay, not new to me or you) requires a huge cultural change, and the average person has mostly not gone very far in making that change.

    1. Re:We a experiencing a cultural transition. by Idarubicin · · Score: 3, Interesting
      Although I have made several demands in strong language, no one, NO ONE, has bothered to get the master password from me, even though I have suggested it in person to several people several times. So, they have the file, but have no access to it.

      Or you could write out the password and put it into a safe deposit box at the bank. Leave the key with your attorney, and instructions in your will. Better yet, give the entire password list to the company attorney.

      Damn right nobody at the company wants to have access to all your passwords. What if you snap and decide to commit some act of information sabotage? Now you've got plausible deniability--'It only happened after I oh-so-responsibly (*ahem*) gave my passwords to senior management.'

      Further, what happens if any of those senior officials leaves the company before you die? Now you've got to create a new password file and master password that they all have to rememorize--or the officer who left gets to sell all your secrets to the company's chief competitor.

      Sometimes the most technical solution isn't the best.

      --
      ~Idarubicin
  35. -1 STOLEN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The parent was stolen from a previous "Ask Slashdot" on the same topic. This is also made obvious by the fact that the same text is pasted twice.

    Not that duping the story says much about the Slashdot editors...

  36. Wait a second by burgburgburg · · Score: 5, Funny
    You cross the road? Do you have any idea what's on the other side?

    Chickens. Hordes of disease-ridden road-crossing chickens are on the other side. Just waiting.

    No thank you. Life is safer on this side of the road.

  37. Thought about it years ago. by wcrowe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I thought about this years ago. I don't really have any important information to impart to my loved ones, but I'm sure it would be helpful for them if they were to know passwords to the home router/firewall, webspace, etc.

    Directions to this information are in my safety deposit box at the bank, along with our wills, etc.

    Some may laugh, but consider: Why leave hassles with your family (especially technically ignorant ones, like mine)? If they have easy access to these things then they can change or cancel services, modify settings, etc.

    --
    Proverbs 21:19
  38. Living Trust by adius · · Score: 3, Informative

    For the easiest method of transferring ownership of anything digital or otherwise I use a "Living Trust". A safe is used to store my documents in typed or witten format (a good locksmith can crack it when needed) and a trusted friend to manage the trust. This way I can die in peace knowing that my loved ones will not be ripped off by the greedy probate process.

  39. Something to think about by Okeanos · · Score: 2, Interesting
    I think that the fortune cookie for this article sums up the issue of saving my data data rather nicely.
    Some parts of the past must be preserved, and some of the future prevented at all costs.
  40. Your $ubscriptions, etc, continue by beachplum · · Score: 3, Interesting
    When my partner died, it was a nightmare to get all the dialup services cancelled, etc. etc. Anybody who has a credit card which is automatically billed, that billing goes on regardless - not that dead people have to worry about credit ratings, but it can cost your estate (read, your friends and family) a lot of time and money.

    Also, it is most offensive to have to send death certificates to total strangers, in order to document that the person you say is dead, really is dead, thereby enabling the company to cancel your whatever-it-is. Believe me, I went through this with dialups and credit card companies. It took months to finally get every branch of every company involved to accept that they were not getting any more money. I have never seen a dead person rack up so many late charges on a credit card. After the company was notified of the death. Go figure!

    It is so much better to be over-prepared than under-prepared. Somebody has to clean up the wreckage after you die, and it is much easier to gove that person the tools they need to do the job.

  41. Re:Use Attorney for business (and personal financi by Saeed+al-Sahaf · · Score: 2, Informative
    For business related death I have prepared extensive documentation on servers, passwords, accounts, banking relationships, etc. and have filed that in my bank lock-box.

    This will really do your employer good. Not. It's not like anyone but you can go down to your safe-deposit box and grab all this stuff... They'll have to wait until probate!

    --
    "Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
  42. Tis Elvish Trickery! by burgburgburg · · Score: 2, Funny
    He promised ME the crown of deception and he would never ...Wait, he was wearing the crown of deception when he promised it to me! Oh, the wheels within wheels.

    Fine. At least I get the SUV.

  43. Just a new twist on an old problem? by swb · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Isn't this just a new twist on an old problem -- poorly documented estates?

    My dad, for example, has three mortgaged investment properties in Arizona, a motorhome, a car, and a safety deposit box. That I know about. I have no idea what his bank accounts are, what other real estate he might own, what his liabilities are, or what other assets he might have.

    Your electronic data is just another element of the poorly documented estate, and probably the least important one, unless you're someone truly interesting and have various letters and correspondence someone else might care about.

    I dread dad dying unexpectedly. Not only will it be a personal loss, but it will be a huge PITA to get his estate sorted. Dad had a ton of problems when mom died, and she was his wife and he inhereted all of her stuff by default. At least I know enough to bee-line to the safety deposit box (for which I have a key) and to take out all the gold...

  44. Back up your private key! by maiden_taiwan · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Here's a convenient method to back up your GnuPG private key: Excerpt from O'Reilly's Linux Security Cookbook

    This sort of thing is vital for decrypting your files after your death, or if you are injured and suffer amnesia, or other morbid scenarios in which your data outlives you.

  45. Re:Use Attorney for business (and personal financi by hackstraw · · Score: 2, Funny

    Who in the world needs an attorney when there's this free legal service? Plus we all know that slashdot will outlive all of us, so you could even post your will here.

  46. Re:Use Attorney for business (and personal financi by frostman · · Score: 2, Funny

    For business related death...

    So you work for the mob?

    --

    This Like That - fun with words!

  47. Slashdot editor simulator by richmaine · · Score: 4, Funny

    If you are a slashdot editor, just leave behind a script that creates random duplicates of old postings. Nobody will notice that you died. :-)

  48. StuntCopter by 0x0d0a · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Some people may remember the Macintosh game StuntCopter. When the developer died, his parents released the software into the public domain:

    These arcade games were programmed by Duane Blehm. They have all been previously released and are currently offered by most sources of Public Domain software. Duane unexpectedly died a year ago. Cairo ShootOut and Puzz'l required users to send $3.00 to Duane to receive a "Key Code" to unlock all of the features of the program. All of Duane's games contained offers to sell the source code of the programs to programmers who wanted to see how Duane wrote them. Duane's parents have been swamped with Key Code and source code requests that they are unable to supply. These new versions have been altered at the request of Duane's parents. These versions have been unlocked and will allow full access to all of the features. The offers for source code have also been removed. Duane's parents have requested that if you have any of the old versions of Duane's games that you destroy them and replace them with the new versions. Please do not distribute any of the prior versions. Distribution of these new versions is encouraged and requested. Thank You and Have Fun!

    --
    May we never see th
  49. Re:PLEASE!!!!! by ahaning · · Score: 2, Funny

    Your junk and pron isn't that important to anybody but yourself!!!!

    And your porn-buddy.

    Porn buddy: When you've died, a friend of yours has a key to your apartment/flat and they get to your place before your family and clean out all of the pornography. You're sad that your friend is gone, but there's a bright side.

    (Stolen from the first episode of Coupling.)

    --
    Withdrawal before climax is very ineffective and those who try this are usually called "parents."
  50. Re:Digital breaking and entering by Pantheraleo2k3 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    #dd if=/dev/hda |gzip -f >/mnt/really_big_drive/client03062004.dd.gz

    Should help on your Knoppix or other Unix-based box. Do this before you begin, and you have an effective CYA in case you screw something up.

    Also, take a look at Microsoft's EFS documents. There's a Recovery certificate you can create. I could imagine storing one in a safe deposit box so that your executor can decrypt your documents after you die

  51. Getting to the Other Side by cammoblammo · · Score: 2, Funny

    This reminds me of a joke that my six year old told me the other day (it's the first joke she's ever told me that qualifies as humour, so I'm allowed to be proud!)

    There were two guys walking along on opposite sides of a river. One guy yells out, 'Hey, how do I get to the other side?'

    The other guy yells out, 'You're already on the other side!'

    As I remember, six was a happy time of my life too.

    --

    Cogito, ergo sig.