Is Phil Agre Out There?

Andy Carvin, a technology blogger now working for National Public Radio reports in All Tech Considered on The Mysterious Disappearance of Phil Agre.  Agre was an information studies professor at U.C.L.A. that Carvin describes as a "well-known Internet researcher and online publishing pioneer with fans all over the world."   Despite this notoriety, Agre was reclusive and seems to have disappeared or "gone off the grid" over a year ago without folks noticing at first and only now reaching the point of beginning a concerted  search for him.


This is an intriguing mystery, but it also poignantly shows how we perceive that we are connected and brought closer together by the Internet and social media, but people can slip away without our ever knowing. If Phil Agre is out there, help find him.  Share Carvin's story.  Join his fan page on Facebook or the Google group created by his friends who are trying to find him.

Quick Byte: Online Wills

Professor Gerry Beyer reports today in his Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog on a Wall Street Journal article by Jane Hodges about online wills,  Before It's Too Late: A Test of Online Wills, WSJ, Nov. 12, 2009.  The Journal article reviews various online will preparation software, using a hypothetical married couple to test the products.  Beyer notes that the article has already been roundly criticized, particularly in a blog post by David A. Shulman, a South Florida estate planning attorney, entitled The Wall Street Journal Totally Blows it on Online Wills.  Beyer concludes by saying, "Maybe the real test will come when the hypothetical couple hypothetically passes away."

Dying in the Digital Age

I may not be the first to call your attention to this, but I have written before about the issues associated with our cyberspace identities when we die.  Increasingly, we have multifaceted virtual identities through our computers and the Internet.  We have passwords for accessing everything from bank accounts, to email accounts, to Facebook pages, to Twitter, and everything in between and beyond.  Some of these facets of our virtual selves may be more meaningful than others.  Social networking pages on sites like Facebook or My Space may carry with them many memories and emotional ties.  Other accounts on the Internet may contain important financial information.

So, you may be interested in a number of new articles that I came across today through Prof. Gerry Beyer's Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog in a post entitled "Accessing Email & Social Networking Accounts After A Loved-One's Death".  Beyer begins by asking the question: "What happens to an email or social networking account when the account owner dies?"  He follows that by discussing another article by Andrew Ramadge in news.com.au entitled "What Happens to Your Email When You Die?"  For good measure, Beyer links to his own earlier post on "What to Do When a Facebook Friend Passes Away."  These are both worth reading.

Also of interest may be Jon Gordon's piece on Future Tense entitled "The Death Switch," which discusses an online service, Deathswitch, which provides a way for your family and others to access critical information  after death.  Deathswitch operates by setting up certain protocols and checks to determine if you are likely   
"you've gone toes up" (Gordon's phrase).