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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.'"

74 of 312 comments (clear)

  1. Mine is going to read... by jolyonr · · Score: 4, Funny

    Aaarrrrghhh....!!!!

    --


    Please read my Canon EOS tech blog at http://www.everyothershot.com
    1. Re:Mine is going to read... by joycircuit · · Score: 4, Informative

      wasnt this on /. a while back as well. jebus. and i dont even believe in jebus.

    2. Re:Mine is going to read... by HAKdragon · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Are you going to be dictating it?

      --
      "Our opponent is an alien starship packed with atomic bombs. We have a protractor."
    3. Re:Mine is going to read... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      and mine would be like:

      He guys,
      if you got this Mail I have left the country. They will properly tell you about my dead, but I tell you now: I AM NOT! It's just a trick to escape the IRS...

      Imaging, I would be like Elvis, every time someone is talking about my dead someone will deny it... ;-)

    4. Re:Mine is going to read... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      LAST POST!!1!11

    5. Re:Mine is going to read... by roman_mir · · Score: 2, Funny

      I bet you don't need to escape country for that reason alone, you could just trick the IRS with your special grammar.

    6. Re:Mine is going to read... by Guppy06 · · Score: 2, Funny

      "I AM NOT! It's just a trick to escape the IRS..."

      So the whole Nigerian thing worked out for you?

  2. A week by SteveXE · · Score: 2, Funny

    This will last about a week until people start using it against each other and for jokes...

  3. I smell spam from the grave by evenSong · · Score: 5, Funny

    So how do we prosecute these dead guys?

    1. Re:I smell spam from the grave by fbform · · Score: 4, Informative


      I smell spam from the grave

      What a coincidence! I smell a dupe from the past!

      Well, to be fair to the Slashdot editors, it's not *really* a dupe - this service is offered by a different company. But how different and original can you get with posthumous email services?

      --
      Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
    2. Re:I smell spam from the grave by ari_j · · Score: 3, Funny

      You could include a porn removal service to make it a package deal.

  4. Spam! by wviperw · · Score: 5, Interesting

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

    --
    Nothing disturbs me more than blind loyalism towards some unrealistic and over-idealistic notion of one's nationality.
    1. Re:Spam! by beacher · · Score: 3, Interesting

      What's worse is when a worm is already emulating this service. I remembered reading some stuff about people recieving emails from dead people thanks to Klez. Still can't find firsthand stuff....

  5. People tend to last longer than dot-coms. by McDutchie · · Score: 5, Interesting

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

    1. Re:People tend to last longer than dot-coms. by Lithus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Not only can the company cease to exist, but the target address of the email itself may do so as well.
      People can often go through many email addresses in the time it takes a company to collapse.

    2. Re:People tend to last longer than dot-coms. by gl4ss · · Score: 2, Funny

      well, if you arrange your own death to happen quite soon.
      ...ooor if they have service for that.

      ...wouldn't recommend signing up for the lifetime subscription though.

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    3. Re:People tend to last longer than dot-coms. by ConceptJunkie · · Score: 4, Funny

      It wouldn't be as bad as your cryogenic company going belly-up. It would really suck to be defrosted in 2999 only to find you're half-melted refrozen... and dead.

      --
      You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
    4. Re:People tend to last longer than dot-coms. by kzinti · · Score: 4, Interesting

      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.

    5. Re:People tend to last longer than dot-coms. by Red+Alastor · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Why don't a company send them by snail mail. It takes longer to reach the destination but it doesn't matter since you are dead. And your street address change less often than your e-mail address.

      --
      Slashdot anagrams to "Sad Sloth"
    6. Re:People tend to last longer than dot-coms. by madmancarman · · Score: 4, Funny
      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.

      Why don't we make a company that text messages the family's cell phones with a URL, which has a form that they have to fill out, which sends them an email with the location of the hand-written note that tells them to refer to the amendment to the will stored in the lawyer's filing cabinet that tells the family members they're not getting any money because they're all too fucking stupid to deserve any?

      This service will be popular with the ring tone and Claria/Gator crowd, which means they'll make millions. Eventually, they'll find a way to set up kiosks at Walmart so people can retrieve their loved ones' final words and have them printed on the base of a battery-powered fiber optic color-changing angel with big teardrop eyes and fake feathers glued to the wings.

      --
      First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Gandhi
    7. Re:People tend to last longer than dot-coms. by Lost+Dragon · · Score: 2, Funny

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

      Don't worry - if they die before you do, you'll get an e-mail.

    8. Re:People tend to last longer than dot-coms. by mattdm · · Score: 2, Informative

      And your street address change less often than your e-mail address.

      I've had five different street addresses in the past seven years -- and still just the one e-mail address...

    9. Re:People tend to last longer than dot-coms. by raju1kabir · · Score: 3, Funny
      Why don't a company send them by snail mail. It takes longer to reach the destination but it doesn't matter since you are dead.

      For that matter, just send it snail mail now. It'll probably arrive after you're dead anyway.

      --
      "Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." -- GBS
    10. Re:People tend to last longer than dot-coms. by DrVxD · · Score: 2, Insightful

      That's the display department....

      --
      Not everything that can be measured matters; Not everything that matters can be measured.
  6. SEL? by NEOtaku17 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Serial Experiments Lain anyone?

    1. Re:SEL? by Minna+Kirai · · Score: 2, Informative

      I assume this is a TV show or movie or book or something by the titlecase...

      Serial Experiment Lain was a televised Japanese anime from the late 90s, wherin recently-suicided schoolkids carried on email correspondence with classmates (often invitations to "Join me, here with God")

  7. They need to answer a few questions first... by tajmorton · · Score: 2, Insightful
    "People find computers more intimate and private than letters and they feel freer to say things this way," said Iriarte, a Pamplona-born computer engineer..

    Really? I donno... about that...
    Also, what kind of backups do these guys do. I can't say that their site says anything about it. Could the FBI require and email to be opened? There seem to be lots of unanswered questions that they need to address, if you ask me...

    --
    Tell the truth and you won't have so much to remember.
  8. afterdeath email by MrDoh! · · Score: 2, Funny

    But how could you get first post after death?
    THAT would be worth getting your offspring into debt for.

    --
    Waiting for an amusing sig.
  9. Isn't this the same as a statement in a will? by mind21_98 · · Score: 4, Informative

    A statement or decree in a will to email certain people would serve the same purpose, I would think, plus it would legally mandate the email be sent (the service could forget that the person died and not send it).

  10. Is email more impersonal than hand-written mail? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I used to get the feeling that email, because it was even further removed from face-to-face contact that it was more impersonal than hand-written mail. Hand-written mail being closer because it requires a personal effort to physically write the words.

    Would your loved ones want to read a "final email" rather than a goodbye letter that was written onto parchment? I don't know.

    The video and audio are good ideas, but realistically, that kind of thing was done before with video cameras and cassette tapes. The digital fidelity of such a message would be much lower than the analog fidelity of VHS or cassette tape.

    This seems like one of those silly projects that eventually disappears, like "DotComGuy" and other misbegotten web pioneers/ideas. Spend a couple bucks on a nice pen and some really fancy paper and write out your last words. Leave it with your lawyer to be handed out to your loved ones when the will is read. So much more personal than an email from beyond the grave.

    Dancin Santa

  11. mine's gonna read by JoeBar · · Score: 2, Interesting

    repeat story

    1. Re:mine's gonna read by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      You got it all wrong this story is back from the grave...

  12. thank you by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 2, Interesting
    I couldn't be bothered to go look for the dupe.

    Personally, I'd rather leave an instruction with a lawyer to send that 'last email' (if I were so inclined). This .dom is likely to pass well before I do.

  13. make room for new Nigerian spam by dncsky1530 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Dear Friend;
    It is quite disconcerting to contact you in such a manor however I bring terrible and rewarding news. If you are reading this email than I have in-fact died. I am Mr.Michael Shaw, the son of the former Liberia finance minister (Mr. Emmanuel Shaw) under the past government of Charles Taylor. In my will you have been left a large portion of my property and cash holdings. This totals the sum of 10,000,000 US dollars which is rightfully yours. You are receiving this email because you are the direct descendant of me. This email was sent with advanced software that was able to inform you after my death. Please forward of your back account numbers with routing numbers to me accountant Sir Richard Webber to begin the transfer of funds.
    Regards, Mr. Michael Shaw

  14. Dead Mail by CmdrTostado · · Score: 2, Funny

    I can think of a few people I will be glad to recieve this e-mail from.

  15. It's A Dupe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative
    Although, it at least took almost a year... http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/11/15/135524 5&tid=95&tid=126

    And no, I don't go checking for these things. I have a good memory.

  16. Secrets get loose by glpierce · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Could you imagine what would happen if someone hacked into this (and you can be sure that they will)? Chances are, it's going to be chock-full of dark secrets and admissions of crimes. Just the kinds of things you don't want in anyone else's hands. This is a bad idea.

    --
    G
  17. Life-or-death typos by jstanforth · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's all fine and good until a jr. sys admin mistypes an account ID and accidentally sends out your final emails before you're dead... either to your enemies, as suggested (thereby now contributing to your death at their hands), or to your ex-girlfriends (just making you wish you were dead). So yeah, caveat emptor and all that. :-)

  18. *sigh* by TWX · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Somehow I think it'd be much more touching to leave behind CDs or DVDs of video clips, audio, or whatever message is to be given to someone digitally, as the recipient can store it in The Real World as opposed to on some hotmail account somewhere. It just seems tacky to send e-mail this way. One would even be assured of having enough storage space on the medium for the contents, and not being filtered out by a broken e-mail server.

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
  19. Re:When I wake up from my cryostasis... by AppHack · · Score: 2, Funny

    I don't know about your gmail account, but I'm pretty sure you'll find that all of the articles are dupes.

  20. My dear PHB by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dear Boss,

    Now that I am dead, I can say anything I want without getting fired.

    You are a horses ass. No, wait. You are a bleeding hemmoroid of a horses ass. You steal everybody's ideas, you read stupid magazines and then follow every management fad known to man. You don't listen to my warnings and then blame me when the warning comes true.

    You hold meetings just so you can be the head cheese, but you say nothing and know nothing of importance.

    Further, your kids are ugly and stupid, just like their father. And, a similar email has just told your wife about that affair you had with Lisa.

    See ya in hell, Mike the Corpse.

    1. Re:My dear PHB by Alsee · · Score: 4, Funny

      Dear Mike Twain,
      You better hope reports of your death have NOT been greatly exaggerated.

      - Your Boss

      -

      --
      - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
    2. Re:My dear PHB by Tablizer · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "...hemmoroid of a horses..."

      You know, being able to spell "hemmoroid" but not catching all my other spellos makes me wonder about you :-)

    3. Re:My dear PHB by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      If this triggers a suicide, this can get recursive.

  21. And mine would say... by itistoday · · Score: 5, Funny

    I told you the vogons were coming!

  22. Re:Parent is a robot by mind21_98 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I can assure you I'm not a bot. :)

  23. That explains... by Ann+Elk · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...the email I got from "BSD" this afternoon...

  24. The article forgot the link !!!! by jdkane · · Score: 4, Informative

    The actual link to the service is thelastemail.

  25. "strict privacy"? by linuxhansl · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Strict privacy is guaranteed by powerful encryption algorithms and a personal password of 128-bits to which only the client, and not the Web site, has access.

    I call "bullshit", how are they going to release the email if they do not have access to its content?
    Of course the "Web site" has access.

    1. Re:"strict privacy"? by Stegersaurus2686 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It could be set up where you leave the password in your will and then a lawyer enters the password in the site and sends the emails. The "Web site" then never does have access to the emails. Just a suggestion...

    2. Re:"strict privacy"? by Felipe+Hoffa · · Score: 2, Informative

      Read the FAQ:

      A portion of the authentication key is sent to you, and it will be necessary for someone you have entrusted to activate your account after you pass away. The Last Email administrator will not have the ability to access your emails because three pieces of information are required to access the account, your username; password; and your authentication key. You are the only person who ever has access to all of this information.

      Not that I really care, but anyway...

      Fh

  26. o.b. Python by SkippyTPE · · Score: 5, Funny

    King Arthur : Look if he was dying he wouldn't have bothered to carve 'Aaaaauuuggghhh' on the rock he would of just said it.
    Galahad : Maybe he was dictating?
    King Arthur : Oh Shut up.
    King Arthur : Well does it say anything else?
    Brother Maynard : No, just 'Aaaaauuuugggghhh'
    [knights making groaning sounds]
    Sir Bedevere : Do you think he could have mean, 'Camaaaauuuuggghhhh'?
    Galahad : Where's that?
    Sir Bedevere : France I think.
    Sir Lancelot : Isn't there a Saint 'Iiiiivvvveeeesss' in Condor?
    King Arthur : No that's Saint 'Ives'
    Sir Bedevere : Whooooouuuuaaa!
    Sir Lancelot : No it's 'Aaaaauuuugggghhhh' from the back of the throat.
    Sir Bedevere : No I mean, 'Whoooouuuuaaa!' as in surprise and alarm.
    Sir Lancelot : Oh you mean like, 'Auuuuhhhhh!'
    Sir Bedevere : Yes that's it. Auuuuuhhhhhaaa!
    Sir Lancelot : Auuuuhhhhhaaa!
    Brother Maynard : It's the legendary black beast of Aaaaauuuugghhhh!
    King Arthur : Run Away! RUN AWAY!
    Sir Lancelot : RUN AWAY!

  27. Actually I smeel WORMS/Viruses by pigscanfly.ca · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Personally I know a number of people who dont send out worms/viruses simply becauses of the consequences, but if your dead whats going to happen to you?

  28. For those interested in freeware... by I+Love+this+Company! · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.

    --

    "All art is quite useless." -- Oscar Wilde
  29. Re:Parent is a robot by Alsee · · Score: 3, Funny

    How long have you been not a bot. :)?

    -

    --
    - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  30. Do you really want to do this? by waynemcdougall · · Score: 5, Funny
    This function allows you to test the mail system, and will act as if your death was confirmed. BE VERY CAREFUL AS ALL OF THE MAIL MESSAGES YOU HAVE COMPOSED WILL BE REALLY SENT IF YOU GO ALONG WITH THIS?

    Are you sure you don't want to not run the test or are you not sure?

    [Yes] [No]
    --
    Recycle PCs and build a wireless community network www.hillsborough.org.nz
  31. 5mb? by wikinerd · · Score: 2, Informative

    199.99 ?/Lifetime Enrollmen
    You receive 5 MB of space
    http://www.thelastemail.com/plans.aspx (aspx, BLEAH!)

    When the webspace prices go down... find a clever way to sell 5MBs at high price.

    it would be much cheaper, or even free, to set-up a password-protected website. Then write a script so that the website will be automatically unprotected when you fail for 2 days to send a specially formatted email to a special secret email address.

    simple, cheap and creative.

  32. Yes, it's a dupe, MOD PARENT UP by ikewillis · · Score: 2, Informative

    I remember that story too! Fortunately I'm not the only one, and it appears you beat me to the punch :)

  33. Re : Dupe by Boyceterous · · Score: 4, Funny

    I *knew* it was a dupe. I just thought the original subitter had died...

  34. Quote of the Day by cribcage · · Score: 5, Insightful
    "People find computers more intimate and private than letters and they feel freer to say things this way," said Iriarte, a Pamplona-born computer engineer.
    More intimate and private. [rolls eyes]

    Jesus. These people deserve to get bilked out of their money.

    crib

    --

    Please don't read my journal
  35. This story would have been better... by skids · · Score: 2, Funny

    ... if it had been sent to the submission desk USING the service in question.

  36. Reminds me of a Joke: Email from the Afterlife by gnugnugnu · · Score: 2, Funny

    A couple from Minneapolis decided to go to Florida to thaw out during one particularly icy winter. They planned to stay at the very same hotel where they spent their honeymoon 20 years earlier. Because of hectic schedules, it was difficult to coordinate their travel schedules. So, the husband left Minnesota and flew to Florida on Thursday, with his wife flying down
    the following day. The husband checked into the hotel.

    There was a computer in his room, so he decided to send an e-mail to his wife.
    However, he accidentally left out one letter in her e-mailaddress, and without
    realizing his error, he sent the e-mail.

    Meanwhile...somewhere in Houston, a widow had just returned home from her
    husband's funeral. He was a minister of many years who was called home to
    glory following a sudden heart attack. The widow decided to check her
    e-mail, expecting messages from relatives and friends. After reading the
    first message, she fainted.

    The widow's son rushed into the room, found his mother on the floor, and
    saw the computer screen which read:

    To: My Loving Wife
    Subject: I've Arrived
    Date: 16 May 2003

    I know you're surprised to hear from me. They have
    computers here now and you are allowed to send e-mails to your loved ones.
    I've just arrived and have been checked in.
    I see that everything has been prepared for your arrival tomorrow.
    Looking forward to seeing you then!
    Hope your journey is as uneventful as mine was.

    P.S. Sure is hot down here!
    ----- End forwarded message -----

  37. Dangerous game... by j.leidner · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Services like these raise interesting questions, such as:
    • What happens if the company by error sends around the email when the sender is still alive and kicking? or:
    • What if on the deathbed you would actually reconsider and halt the service, if only you had remembered to have set it up 40 years ago in the first place...!

    --
    Try Nuggets , the mobile search engine. We answer your questions via SMS, across the UK.

  38. I am gone...but... by suyashs · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'll be sure that they get A/C here before you arrive!

    --
    http://chrono.posterous.com/
  39. The True Geek Solution by Paulrothrock · · Score: 2, Interesting

    hidden cron file at your hosting company.

    --
    I'm in the hole of the broadband donut.
  40. Re:Heard it before by sqrt(2) · · Score: 2, Informative

    Forever > 100 years

    Data will last FOREVER, as long as a medium exists to transfer it to. Forever beats 100 years.

    --
    If you build it, nerds will come. Soylentnews.org
  41. . . . again? by Malk-a-mite · · Score: 3, Informative

    When is this no longer going to be a news story?

    Not Life After Death -- Email After Death
    On September 25th, 2004 with 194 comments

    Send Emails After Your Death

    On November 15th, 2003 with 271 comments

  42. How about this? by reboot246 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Mine would have a really nasty virus attached to it and a note that says, "Now you can fix your own damned computer!"

  43. First post from the grave by koafc · · Score: 2, Funny

    Anybody interested in a related service to provide First Posts(tm) from beyond the grave?

  44. More fun than useful by Joe+Tie. · · Score: 2, Funny

    While I agree with others that leaving an actual letter with a lawyer is more practical for saying goodbyes to loved ones....this could be a lot of fun. I think we all have people in our lives whom we email occasionally but rather dislike. Bosses, coworkers, exes who keep sending us chain letters. Foreknowledge of creepy, post death, emails could provide a lot of amusement as death approaches. I know I've had coworkers I'd love to have receive an occasional email of "I saw what you did Thursday. I see everything now. Woooooooooooo.". And on TLPD, one could even have a slight variation "Yar, I'll eat yer soul for that day you didn't refill the coffee pot!".

    --
    Everything will be taken away from you.
  45. Enemies too? hmm.... by Facekhan · · Score: 2, Funny

    Dear XXXX,

    If you are reading this, it is because I am dead. And in a very short while, you will be too... I have arranged for my estate to be liquidated and the proceeds given to someone eminently qualified to kill you. You will know fear, and you will know pain and then you will die.

  46. Dear (Firstname Lastname) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    By the time you read this, i am dead. My friends and family really need the cash, so i am sending you this last letter because i really think you could use some viagra or get yourself out of debt.

    If you want to remove yourself from this mailing list, you are shit out of luck because you cannot.

    But i promise you, this is DEFINITLY a one time mailing and you wont hear from me again.

  47. Finally, a service with common sense. by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In the internet era, our friends CAN'T know that we died. They'll just start wondering what happened when they didn't see us online.

    This has bothered me for YEARS. What happens if I die? What happens to my webpages? My online friends? What will happen to the friend that maybe needed my help and didn't know I was gone for good?

    In your home they'll know you're gone, but thousands of miles away?

    Bravo for this service. I think it's really needed now.

  48. From the article by tod_miller · · Score: 3, Funny

    to a lifetime membership that allows for unlimited e-mails

    For a service that is for after you die, what use is a lifetime subscription! hahahah no I get it, really I do...

    --
    #hostfile 0.0.0.0 primidi.com 0.0.0.0 www.primidi.com 0.0.0.0 radio.weblogs.com