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

Mine is going to read...

[jolyonr]

Aaarrrrghhh....!!!!

Re:Mine is going to read...

[joycircuit]

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

Re:Mine is going to read...

[Anonymous Coward]

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... ;-)

Re:Mine is going to read...

[Anonymous Coward]

LAST POST!!1!11

I smell spam from the grave

[evenSong]

So how do we prosecute these dead guys?

Re:I smell spam from the grave

[fbform]

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?

Re:I smell spam from the grave

[ari_j]

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

Spam!

[wviperw]

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

Re:Spam!

[beacher]

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....

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.

[Lithus]

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.

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

[ConceptJunkie]

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.

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.

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

[Red Alastor]

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.

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

[madmancarman]

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.

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

[raju1kabir]

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.

Isn't this the same as a statement in a will?

[mind21_98]

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).

make room for new Nigerian spam

[dncsky1530]

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

It's A Dupe

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:mine's gonna read

[Anonymous Coward]

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

Life-or-death typos

[jstanforth]

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. :-)

*sigh*

[TWX]

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.

My dear PHB

[Tablizer]

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.

Re:My dear PHB

[Alsee]

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

- Your Boss

-

And mine would say...

[itistoday]

I told you the vogons were coming!

That explains...

[Ann Elk]

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

The article forgot the link !!!!

[jdkane]

The actual link to the service is thelastemail.

"strict privacy"?

[linuxhansl]

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.

o.b. Python

[SkippyTPE]

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!

Actually I smeel WORMS/Viruses

[pigscanfly.ca]

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?

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.

Re:Parent is a robot

[Alsee]

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

-

Do you really want to do this?

[waynemcdougall]

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]

Re : Dupe

[Boyceterous]

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

Quote of the Day

[cribcage]

"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

Dangerous game...

[j.leidner]

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.

. . . again?

[Malk-a-mite]

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

How about this?

[reboot246]

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

Finally, a service with common sense.

[Spy der Mann]

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.

From the article

[tod_miller]

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...