What will happen to your online data after you die?
We know you’re not planning to die, but … What if you did? Do you know exactly what will happen with all the presence you have scattered across the network? Some services have policies clearer than others as to how to proceed after the death of a person. Several sites remove your information after a time , while others deliver the content of your account without major objections to the next to kin . Who are they? How do they do it? Is there a heaven for that data?
The Mountain View giant has an ecosystem of services. In Gmail, like most email services, the rules do not hide much: if you do not use your account for 9 months, it will be deleted . In that case, you can die with peace of mind, knowing that your personal files will will pass away along with you. Things could still get a bit complicated if you have taken prior to your death actions: Did you leave your key with someone you trust?Legally talking, Impersonating another user of a Gmail account is against the terms of service, so whoever enter with your data could suffer the consequences of a violation of the Terms of Use.(just saying) Nevertheless, Once you’ve died, Google considers the possibility of providing access to your accounts.The application must be supported by documentation of the applicant (accreditation of identity, relationship with the deceased, etc.). Even all this enormous paperwork does not guarantee that Google will give your account to anyone. The process is repeated for all Google services, with some variations depending on the service being requested.
In Facebook the situation is somewhat different.Profiles are individual and there are rules against sharing login information between multiple users. If you die and be properly certified, friends and family may propose your profile as a “commemorative account” . These accounts do not show contact details, can not update your status, and no longer appear as “people you could meet.” Privacy options are configured by the deceased as it was before, and contacts already in the account can still write in memory of the person who is gone.(yeah,we are talking about you) In addition, family members may request that the account is disabled or even claim access to the data on it, presenting the relevant documentation (including a court order). For now, Facebook accounts do not expire after any amount of time. If nobody does anything about it, your account will just stay there.Imagine this, If facebook continue to exist after 100 years, then your account will be one of the one billion+ accounts of dead people on facebook. Your great-grand children may read your posts and wonder about all your photos and statuses.
The social network of the bird make less noise at the death of a user. There is no memorial profiles like what Facebook offers. If you die, and no one bothers to report it, that way the account would continue as usual, which could be a bit uncomfortable when someone notice that the deceased still appears on the suggestions of who to follow, or you can keep being mentioned. But if a relative or authorized person contacts twitter,they will send backup documentation and deactivate your account.
Hotmail / Outlook
Hotmail / Outlook are much more casual with the user information. If you have the misfortune to die, then after 270 days without anyone accessing your email account,it will be tagged inactive and will start rejecting incoming mail, in addition ,post information, contacts, and others will be removed. After 365 days without access, the account is directly deleted and the username is available to register again. Before all that happens, your family still may request documentation.Hotmail / Outlook will provide them a DVD copy of all your emails and contacts , but will not hand the password. The closure of the account can also be petitioned with this documentation.
Yahoo!
Yahoo! may not be as popular as before, but at least the mail service is still fairly widespread among some Internet users . Yahoo! accounts are deleted after 4 months of inactivity. No form of documentation or content of a Yahoo! account will be given to anyone but the owner even if he is deceased. The only possibility is to ask them to close the account permanently, with less paperwork than what is required by other companies, or take the case to court. If you thought you could recover any data of the deceased, then it will not be easy. At least in this case. Beyond time, paperwork and court proceedings, it is expected that social networks, mail services, profiles and most of the web sites gets, changed, renewed or directly disappear as the Internet evolves.In general, I must say-all our information seems destined to expire with us eventually.
