Dying is Easy, Keeping Track of Passwords is Hard

Facebook image: they can track you everywhere

Death is getting more complicated. Not only do we have to make arrangements for our physical and financial assets; now we have to worry about the remnants of our digital lives.

WSJ tech editor Joanna Stern takes us through the steps of organizing our electronic estate:

1. Take inventory of your digital assets
2. Add a digital executor to your will
3. Add digital heirs to your accounts
4. Plan to pass on your passwords
5. Record your stories

After step 2, adding a "digital executor" (can be the same as the regular executor), the will should contain instructions to the executor to distribute the accounts to the digital heirs.

Some of the big tech companies provide specific tools. On Facebook, assign and add a legacy contact. When you die, Facebook will allow this person to take some actions on your account, including downloading a copy of what you’ve shared on Facebook, memorializing your profile so others know you’ve passed or, if you prefer, removing your account. On Google, assign an Inactive Account Manager, who can similarly download the data, including any pictures you may have on Google Photos.

Unfortunately, other tech giants don’t offer such features. Make sure your digital executor will receive access to your passwords and also has a way to get to your phone to receive those number and letter codes that some companies send when you log in. Without that, a company could require the executor to gain a court order. Here are links to the specific policies for companies you might have digital accounts with:

•Apple
•Microsoft
•Twitter
•Instagram
•Dropbox
•Yahoo
•LinkedIn
•Amazon (U.K. customers; U.S. link not working)

What to Do Before You Die: A Tech Checklist is humbling because I've done nothing except print out a list of all my accounts and passwords. Meanwhile the hard-core are making sure that their avatars are not interred with their bones: [bold added]

James Vlahos, co-founder of HereAfter.AI.... creates voicebots so loved ones can, via an Amazon Echo or Alexa phone app, actually talk to friends or family members after they die.

The company records interviews with people, then turns the audio into an interactive experience. Loved ones can ask the bot questions about your childhood, and it will play relevant chapters of the recording.

To me, the best part of this service—which starts at $95 for an hour of interviews—is that customers get, in addition to the voicebot, the original high-quality audio files. Of course, you and your family can record some yourselves with a good microphone and computer. The key for any interview is asking the right questions to capture the best stories.

“Use targeted questions that guide your loved ones to share the most specific, visceral and emotional things they can remember,” Mr. Vlahos said. “Don’t ask, ‘Tell me about your marriage.’ Ask, ‘Describe the very first time you saw the woman who would become your wife.’”

In the Superman movies Kal-el speaks to a ghostly image of his long-dead father Jor-el. The image responds intelligently to Kal'el's questions and often gives useful advice.

Here's a 21st century question: does anyone want to listen to posthumous advice from someone who presumed that his descendants wanted to take his advice seriously after he was gone?