Legacy Locker

The Atlantic recently published a thought provoking article that looks at the rising concerns over digital memories, online privacy and who controls the data that makes up our online lives. The piece looks at how cultural differences between the United States and Europe are driving internet policy and case law. More specifically, it examines the recent trend of European countries  challenging American corporations over the right to control private information online. Quoting from the article:

Last November, the European Union announced data protection goals for 2011, which include “clarifying the so-called ‘right to be forgotten’, i.e. the right of individuals to have their data no longer processed and deleted when they are no longer needed for legitimate purposes”

Conflicts arise when the right to privacy (named a European value in the post) clashes with the American value of free speech. Claims of censorship regularly appear, even in academic circles.

Martin Abrams, a policy director with leading global privacy think tank Hunton & Williams . . . [would] rather people focus on what he considers the real issues of Internet accountability and the increasingly popular notion of “data stewardship” among corporations. Data will inevitably be out there, Abrams believes, and what matters now is a dialogue about how to retire certain data.

Legacy Locker was founded to help individuals manage online assets after a loved one has passed away. While these privacy battles between individuals, corporations and countries primarily affect the living, concerns over online data ownership and stewardship also apply to the profiles and passwords of the digitally deceased. Concerns over who owns our memories online will only grow as this issue gains wider attention.

What is clear is that privacy will play a major role in the evolution of the internet. It is also clear that until the courts establish ground rules for global online privacy (including the rights of the deceased), it is up to individuals to take proactive steps to pass on their digital effects securely and with dignity.

Recently published statistics estimate that between 1.5 and 3 million Facebook users will pass away in 2011. In order to arrive at this figure, our colleagues at Entrustet looked at the number of active Facebook users and cross applied that data with mortality rates compiled by the Center for Disease Control. The company found that over 400,000 Facebook ghosts will be created this year in the United States alone. Online memorial site 1000Memories claims that the large number of Facebook users coupled with an aging Facebook population sets the online community up for large numbers of users passing on. This raises an important question: What to do with your Facebook ghosts?

I take this matter very seriously, and very personally. In the past 6 months I’ve unfortunately experienced the loss of two friends, candidly the first two losses I’ve experienced in the “Facebook” era. Along with my real world mourning, I am also faced with their digital specters, not just on Facebook, but they appear as suggested contacts on Quora and I see them on LinkedIn from time to time. Others have written about their mixed emotions when Facebook suggests that they reconnect with loved ones who have passed on (although Facebook says suggesting users interact with dead friends and family was a deliberate decision).

Since we know that not everybody out there is using a service like ours to help take preventative steps, we can state with certainty that all users will inevitably encounter more online ghosts in the coming months and years.  Here are several options available to you when confronted with a Facebook ghost.  Disclaimer: the below might sound a little insensitive, but it’s pretty hard to talk about the topic without being really direct.  So I’m not trying to trivialize the sensitivities, but to give practical advice anyone can use/follow.

Do Nothing

The reality is that an inactive Facebook profile will not show up that much, other than as a “reconnect” message intermittently. For some, taking no action at all is the best course of action.

Unfriend Them

I find this a very uncomfortable action, but I can understand why some people would want to do this. The notion of seeing a dead person online can be difficult (especially with the feeling that there’s nothing you can do about it). Many people will have strong reactions when confronted with Facebook Ghosts and for them unfriending is the solution that makes the most sense.

Create a Group

One way to at least “compartmentalize” the issue would be to create a Facebook Group.  This will help keep Ghosts in a manageable place for those who do want to memorialize people, but not be confronted with uncomfortable moments on a frequent basis.

Report the Profile as Passed On

WARNING: this should not be handled lightly.

Taking this step is permanent and can not be undone and you must not do it alone. Ultimately the end-of-life digital decisions should be made by the family and loved ones of the deceased. This is why sites like Legacy Locker exist. We would like to see people have these important conversations when they can, and not leave these matters to chance after someone passes on.

As Facebook users continue to age, the number of  ghosts will likely increase in the coming years. I probably won’t experience another Facebook death for quite some time (knock on wood), but I know that I haven’t seen my last digital spirit. It is interesting in that when we started Legacy Locker we saw this as a problem that people would have to face in the near future. Now online death and digital asset management is actually a reality for me personally.

As users spend more time socializing online, a new need is emerging: backing up our social selves. Let’s face it, data loss is a reality, and just because your digital assets are in the hands of huge corporations doesn’t mean things can’t go wrong for them either.  Further, as we’ve examined in the past, since there are few laws governing policies of online companies, they literally can change their policies overnight.  Facebook, for example, made a massive switch by defaulting data to the public view instead of the private one.  What if your blog hosting provider changes terms, or goes out of business?  What if Facebook decides to stop hosting all of your photos?  It’s time to think about a digital asset backup plan.

Much like data on our computers is backed up in the cloud or in an external hard drives, new services and features are springing up that back up your social media data. Facebook recently announced a “download your data” feature as part of their site redesign. Quoting from the official Facebook blog:

First, we’ve built an easy way to quickly download to your computer everything you’ve ever posted on Facebook and all your correspondences with friends: your messages, Wall posts, photos, status updates and profile information.

If you want a copy of the information you’ve put on Facebook for any reason, you can click a link and easily get a copy of all of it in a single download. To protect your information, this feature is only available after confirming your password and answering appropriate security questions.

Facebook isn’t the only company concerned with backing up digital assets. Inc. recently published an article entitled “How To Back Up Your Social Media Accounts.”

But while the data you upload and share is inherently personal to you and your network, you don’t actually own the information. It all lives on the “cloud,” and if any of those services were to crash, you could lose everything you’ve ever contributed to the communities. That is why backing up your social data is just as important as backing up the hard drive of your computer.

Several services are covered that allow users to save backup copies of their online socializing, including Backupify and SocialSafe. The first is a cloud based solution while the second gives users copies of their data downloaded to their hard disks.  We’re not (yet) recommending any particular solution over any other, so take a look around and let us know which solutions are the best for you.  We recommend backing up all of your digital assets, either in the cloud or on your hard disk (or both).  As your digital assets become more and more a part of your real life, it’s important to think of the longevity and ability to preserve them.

After a loved one passes on, it is natural to gather physical objects of theirs and associate those corporeal things with them. A pair of cuff links. A favorite book. A photograph or video showing the deceased. These objects all help us remember the life and character of a dear friend.

They also help the living celebrate and mourn the dead. In some ways these objects become symbolic of the memory of our lost friends and family members.

Much like physical things, digital assets are an effective way to keep memories of those who have passed alive. Email Accounts, Social Media Activity, Photos and Videos all live online and have an immediacy to them. These things are living digital manifestations of a life lived in the information age.

When we connect with a digital life of a lost friend we keep their essence close to us. To read the emails of a dead friend or relative is like speaking to that person again. To see their photos online is to see their journeys and their memories- some for the first time. There is a closeness and an intimacy with the deceased when we experience their online lives. Dealing with social media accounts after online death can be painful. But for many people, knowing what went on in the online lives of departed friends brings a sense of joy and connectedness. Being able to reach out to the online communities that the dead participated in can not only help memorialize their memory, but increase comfort and support for the living. Having access to online activities can result in digital memorials and has real world benefits as well.

Identifying physical objects with those who have passed on has been part of the grieving process for millenia. As more of our lives play out online, connecting with digital collateral will help keep the memories of loved ones alive and well.