Not Life After Death -- Email After Death

Rick Zeman writes "Wanna send that one last email after you're dead and gone? CNN has an article about a service that will give the 21st century equivalent to a old-fashioned note in a drawer except that this could be more targeted '...by offering people the chance to write one last e-mail, complete with video clip or photo attachments, and send it to loved ones, friends or even enemies after the person who wrote it is dead.'"

Comments

Spam!

[wviperw]

It has GOT to suck when you miss one of these because it got sent to the spam folder and deleted.

People tend to last longer than dot-coms.

[McDutchie]

Who is going to guarantee that the company in question won't go belly-up before you do?

Re:People tend to last longer than dot-coms.

[kzinti]

the target address of the email itself may [cease to exist]

Furthermore, the people you want to send that last e-mail to might change addresses even while you're incapacitated for the last few years of your life. I think the old letter in a drawer might be the better answer.

However, what if this company, instead of trying to send out an e-mail, instead stores a web page with your final message on it. Then you leave the URL of the final page in an envelope in the drawer.

You'd still have the problem of whether the company will stay in business longer than you live. If you operate your own web site, you might as well set up the page yourself. You could even keep on a hidden page in an otherwise visible site. Leave the URL in that envelope in your desk drawer. If you're smart, you'll also set up a cron job to periodically wget or curl the page, to ensure that it doesn't accidently get deactivated, or otherwise screwed up.

For those interested in freeware...

[I Love this Company!]

Check out Dead Man's Switch. If you die, it can send out e-mails to those of concern and delete all of your hardcore porn so not as to destroy your family's last image of you.