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).

Cellphone Users Unite!

While some of us wait for the day when we can get on iPhone on our network of choice, others are taking the cellphone providers to task for their monopolistic practices designed to suck money out the pockets of users. A leading crusader in the regard is David Pogue, whose Pogue's Posts appear in The New York Times. Pogue was recently interviewed on American Public Media's Future Tense, where he and host Jon Gordon discussed Pogue's list of complaints about the way cellphone networks bill for services.

Pogue campaigned to get users on Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, and AT&T to rise up and object to the 15 second instructions that greet users when they try to retrieve voice mail. As Gordon summarized, Pogue contends that such messages "amount to theft of customers money and time." In the interview, Gordon probes Pogue on his other concerns about cellphone billing practices.

Gordon did a series of programs in August on cellphone issues. Several of these reports deal with Gordon's quest to buy a new cellphone that was just right for him. Another report highlighted that Americans pay more for their cellphones and service than most of the rest of the world. High cellphone costs in the U.S. are attributable to our ubiquitous use of cellphones, the billing practices with which Pogue has taken issue, and lack of real competition in the cellular service industry. Finally, as we might have guessed, Gordon highlighted a study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project that found that Americans ages 12 to 17 are adopting and using cellphones at a rate comparable to adults.