What happens to your online accounts after you die? Jane Hoskyn explains how to bequeath your photos, emails and other digital data to your loved ones
Bruce Willis fights to leave his iPod tunes to his family!’ screamed newspaper headlines in 2012, when the Die Hard star reportedly planned to sue Apple for the right to bequeath his iTunes library to his daughters. Experts saluted Bruce’s stand (www.snipca.com/15497) and lawyers analysed the case (www.snipca.com/15504).
A fictitious case, as it turned out. The story was an urban myth. But like all the best myths, it contained one big truth: what will happen to our digital possessions after we die?
We’re living in an age of invisible assets. We write emails instead of letters, keep photos in online albums instead of physical ones, and protect our bank statements with passwords not padlocked filing cabinets. In most cases, only you can access any of it. According to security firm McAfee, 55 per cent of us have important digital data that’ll be impossible for anyone else to access after we’re gone (www.snipca.com/15510).
That’s fine if you want your data to die with you, but not if you want any control over your digital legacy - or, like Bruce Willis in the iTunes myth, leave your invisible treasures to your loved ones.
Pass on your passwords securely
Web companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon store all kinds of information about you and your online activity in their servers. You may not like it, but they do. However, your sensitive personal information (usernames, passwords, password hints) is encrypted, which means no human can read it, ever. Not the Amazon help desk, not a hacker, and not your family after you die.
Encryption is essential, of course. If your passwords are visible to anyone, you might as well scribble them on a sheet of A4 and pin it to your front door.
Last year, the Law Society urged people not to include their passwords in any written will (www.snipca.com/15496). The Society, which represents solicitors in England and Wales, also said you should ‘leave clear instructions’ about what to do with your online accounts. But how can you leave instructions without leaving your passwords?
The free tool PasswordBox (www.passwordbox.com) is the answer. Previously a standard password manager like LastPass, PasswordBox now incorporates its old rival Legacy Locker, ‘the world’s first digital life manager’. It still works as a password manager, but it also now lets you share your logins with another person, securely and confidentially. Only you can edit your logins, and any changes you do make are synced instantly to your beneficiary. All the data is encrypted, so it won’t be visible to hackers - even if they manage to break into your contact’s laptop.
You can also set up rules to determine what will happen to your online accounts, photos, emails and other digital data when you’re gone. This service is explained in detail on the site’s Legacy page (www.snipca.com/15521).
PasswordBox works entirely in your browser. Click the Download button to add the extension to whatever browser you’re using (Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer are all supported), then choose a master password. Click the bookmarklet to set up and use the Share and Legacy services (see screenshot left). To extend the service to your tablet or phone, install the free app (Android and iOS, www.snipca.com/15502).
Pass on your Google accounts
Google’s Inactive Account Manager (IAM) was launched a couple of years ago to help you ‘plan your digital afterlife’ (see Google’s blog: www.snipca.com/ 15522). It’s like a digital will for sections of your Google account (Gmail, Picasa, Drive, YouTube and more), letting you specify what should happen if you haven’t logged in for a certain amount of time.
For example, you can set your Gmail archive or Picasa photos to be passed securely to a ‘trusted contact’ screenshot above) after your account has been inactive for a certain number of months (three, six, nine or 12). Alternatively, you can choose for everything to be deleted.
Before your wishes are carried out, Google sends a text to your mobile number and an email to your secondary (non-Gmail) address. This is just in case you’re actually still around - maybe travelling the world, for example.
To set up IAM, go to your Google account settings, scroll down and click Inactive Account Manager, then click Setup (here’s a direct link: www.snipca. com/15523). Scroll down the page choosing your ‘Timeout period’, ‘trusted contact’ and optional Gmail auto-response message.
We’d caution against the Delete option. Deleting all your Google data wipes all your photos, emails and contacts - and it’s irreversible, so it’ll leave your loved ones with precious little when you’re gone. It’ll also make it harder for them to settle your accounts and notify your friends of your passing. If you want to do it, at least archive your data first.
Archive your digital assets
Whether you want to take your accounts to the grave or preserve everything for posterity, you should download and archive your data. Even if it's just your Facebook photos and a few key Gmail contacts, this information will be invaluable to your family and fascinating for your descendants.
Google's free Takeout tool (https://google.com/takeout) lets you (and only you) download some or all of your data from Gmail, Picasa and so on. Find out more in Google's 'Download your data FAQ' (www.snipca.com/15524).
Facebook has a built-in tool for downloading all your photos, videos, messages, contacts and posts, all in one go. Co to Settings, click 'Download a copy' and then click Start My Archive. If you've got photos on Flickr, download them all at once using free program Bulkr (www.snipca.com/15527).
Oh, and get your printer out. As Google's vice president Vint Cerf warned recently, digital photos and other files may not be supported by future technology (see 'Will your photos survive the digital dark age?'). So if you want to ensure your descendants can gaze in wonder at your photos, turn those JPEGs into paper.
Pass on your Facebook account
Facebook’s importance to families and friends cannot be overstated. Whatever you think of Facebook, it has become the main form of contact for millions of people who use it to keep in touch with far-flung family members and watch new generations grow. And when a Facebook user dies, their account is part of their legacy.
Roughly 20 million Facebook accounts are owned by people who have passed away (www.snipca.com/15531), and most have taken their passwords with them. That means no one can log in to update their page and - we’ve all pondered it - remove the embarrassing stuff.
It’s about time Facebook did something to address this, but in the UK we’re still waiting. The company has just launched a ‘legacy contact’ service for US users, who can now bequeath control of their account to a trustee. It will launch here but ‘not yet’, according to Facebook (www.snipca.com/15484).
Meanwhile if something happens to you, your loved ones can ask Facebook to ‘memorialize’ (horrible word) your page. First, they have to submit a request (www.snipca.com/15529), including proof that you’ve passed away. Bizarrely, Facebook suggests ‘an obituary or news story’, but surely a death certificate would be more appropriate. Either way, once Facebook approves the request, it adds the word ‘Remembering’ above your name and prevents your page appearing in public searches. It may even agree to close your account.
Unfortunately, this ‘memorialization’ process doesn’t always run smoothly. Bereaved family members have complained of six-month delays and a lack of response from Facebook (www.snipca.com/15530). A company that owes its entire existence to friends and family should be more respectful. Until they sort it out, we’ll stick with sharing our Facebook logins securely using PasswordBox.