Digital legacy or digital will is when you express what you want to happen with your digital data after you die: social media, emails, bank apps, etc.
This can be done in very different ways: writing details down in a piece of paper, informal conversation with your family member/carer or even more formally, writing a traditional will.
Nominating people to manage your accounts and leaving instructions of what you want to happen with those accounts after you die will ease the path for them to cope with the loss too.
Four things you should do with your data before you die article from Choice.com.au, has up to date information on what to do with your apple accounts, emails, online storage providers, financial accounts and more.
Social media accounts have their own policy, for example:
- Facebook lets users choose whether they would like their account deleted or ‘memorialised’.
- Instagram lets your family have your account memorialised or deleted
- Twitter has no memorialisation option.
- LinkedIn offers a memorialisation option if certain legal requirements for an authorised person are met.
There is a risk involved by not organising what will happen to your accounts after you die, and that is identity theft.
“Cyber criminals can take out loans or commit crimes in your name, damage your reputation or even impersonate you or the executor of your will”
Associate Professor Yeslam Al-Saggaf, Charles Sturt University
Digital will is part of having an advance planning, it can take some time to get it done and it is a very important aspect of your legacy, including people you love to have access to important correspondence and precious photos.
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