Our online presence has become almost as extensive as our real life presence (or possibly more if you obsess about Facebook, WoW or such things). Social media profiles, blogs, personal websites, online gaming – you don’t have to be a tech-geek to have established an extensive presence in a number of places.

So what happens to our passwords, login credentials, profiles, blog posts, social media site profiles, after we die? Because let’s face it, the internet will be around a lot longer than we will.

Intellectual property laws are slow to catch up with the digital space so for now, it’s in our hands to protect digital assets after death – especially assets of value.

Take a pro-active approach to the inevitable (sorry, but it’s true). Map out your own digital death plan.

Here are 5 things to consider:

1. Identify what you have of value online:
   an online business, copyrighted material (images, words, etc), domain names, websites, etc.
2. Compile a list of all your subscriptions, memberships, profiles
   -> Research each site’s deactivation policies and plan accordingly
   Most sites, if your next of kin approaches them with an obituary, will assist them with disabling the account (Facebook offers to  ‘memorialise’ a  user’s profile) when contacted by next of kin.
   -> If you own websites/domain names that you want to remain active after you’re gone, make arrangements for ongoing payments.
3. Does your online presence include things not fit for mother’s eyes?
   Compile directions on how to delete accounts and files you’d rather others not see.
4. Compile your plan in one location
   – This doesn’t necessarily have to be in a will, just seal in an envelope “to be opened in the event of my death”
   -> But clearly, the greater the value of your assets, the more you may wish to seek legal help and compile this plan into your will.
5. And most important – make sure you tell someone the existence of your plan!
   -> Appoint someone to manage your credentials and wishes – this doesn’t have to be next of kin – just someone you trust with the responsibility

Forbes has published a good starting point around managing digital assets via an executor.

And for those of you keen to ‘die’ sooner, suicidemachine and seppukoo provide services to commit social media ‘online suicide’ on your behalf. Never-mind their tactless branding, observe the countdown as your friend connections are removed one-by-one. Both sites have been slapped with Cease and Desist letters from Facebook (ironically, Facebook’s privacy policy does not give YOU the ability to share your user name and password with a 3^rd party site). So the verdict is out on the status of these sites and their services.

But the more the online space mirrors our real live space, clearly these services won’t go away any time soon.

Picture Source: bigfoto