Slashdot Mirror
Arranging Electronic Access For Your Survivors?
smee2 writes "In the past, when a family member died, you could look through their files and address books to find all the people and businesses that should be notified that the person is deceased. Now the hard-copy address book is becoming a thing of the past. I keep some contact information in a spreadsheet, but I have many online friends that I only have contact with through web sites such as Flickr. My email accounts have many more people listed than my address book spreadsheet. I have no interest in collecting real world info from all my online contacts. The sites where I have social contact with people from around the world (obviously) require user names and passwords. Two questions: 1. How do you intend to let the executors of your estate or family members know which online sites/people you'd like them to notify of your demise? 2. How are you going to give access to the passwords, etc. needed to access those sites in a way that doesn't cause a security concern while you're still alive?"
This was actually part of a business idea of mine about 8 years ago. A type of death notification service. The idea was that you'd periodically give the service an updated list of people you'd like contacted if you die, along with any special messages / instructions (within reason). The company would know where you live (city and state at a minimum), and would do a daily check of the obituaries / death notices / etc. If you came up potentially dead, the company would attempt to contact you. Assuming you're dead, the messages would be sent out as requested. This is a great idea for people who have many online or non-local contacts, secret second families, etc.