Wow. Have you heard about this wild new service that Google has created to essentially give all your online data a “digital inheritance?” Basically, you can create a will for everything you have stored through your Google accounts – like Gmail and Google Docs. While thinking about death is the last thing any of us want to do, Google is right. Living in a digital era means it’s time to figure some of this stuff out.
Google Helps Us Plan for the Digital Afterlife
Google’s new service will “help its users make an online will that dictates what happens to their data after they die – either permanently deleting it, or passing it on to loved ones as a digital inheritance.” Users of the service will have the opportunity to “choose trusted contacts who will have access to their data once their account has laid dormant for three, six or 12 months, depending on their preference.” As an alternative to designating a data trustee, users can choose to have their data deleted forever.
In a recent blog post about the new service, Google product manager said, “We hope that this new feature will enable you to plan your digital afterlife — in a way that protects your privacy and security — and make life easier for your loved ones after you’re gone.”
It’s definitely true, the digital world is even changing the way we plan for the future. Have you ever thought about what happens to someone’s data after he or she is gone?
