As our lives go digital, so, inevitably, will our death. When somebody dies, he or she leaves behind digital content and data which was accumulated and stored online during their lifetime. Emails we send, pictures we post, and thoughts we share are all stored digitally. Once we die, they remain online. These are our digital remains, which are the bits and pieces that reflect our digital personality, and at the same time, make up the memories our friends and family. As long as we are alive, we, the users, control our own personal data, as a matter of social practice and as per the contract with the service provider. But once we die, these social norms and legal conventions are no longer clear, and a conflict might arise between the dead user’s privacy and his or her family and friends’ wish to access the digital remains for purposes of grief or commemoration.
What happens to our privacy once we die? What happens – and what should happen – to personal data after we die? Who should gain access and control to these materials? What are the considerations for allowing—or denying—access to orphaned online accounts? What are the social functions of digital remains? Who should control them? How would the answers affect the ways we wish to manage our posthumous data before we die? these are the questions that this research and policy report deal with.
This is an English summary of the Hebrew report. You can find the full Hebrew report, including full empirical data here.