Online lives after death

There was an article on Time last week about Facebook profiles and what happens to them when you die. Apparently, Facebook will memorialise your profile if requested by family, and will disable any new information from being applied to the account, while leaving your Wall open for friends to leave their words.

It got me thinking; how much of our lives is invested in our digital selves, and how transient and fleeting that digital self really is.

In the name of security, I have passwords on everything I have online. If I was to suddenly die, I would vanish from the screens of a great many people who would have no idea what had happened to me. My WoW guildmates would have no idea. I'm not in contact with them in any way except on WoW. I doubt any of my immediate family would think to figure out a way to log on there and tell them. I have several forum accounts I use that I have quite a strong presence on, I would vanish from their screens. These people I connect with digitally aren't close to me like my family are, but they are still important, and it seems like its the kind of thing that we should all start thinking about as more and more of our lives becomes entrenched and based online.

There may even be a market for a company that you can supply all your relevant details to, for all the online communities you are a part of, who will then, upon your death, access your online self and notify people of events that have transpired.

Something to think about.