Google acts on ‘data after death’

Google has become the first major company to deal with the sensitive issue of digital legacies, allowing users of Gmail, Google+ and YouTube to determine what happens to their data once they have died.
Dubbed Inactive Account Manager – a name which even the company admits is slightly clunky – users can choose to delete all of their data after a set period of time, or pass it on to specific people.
Google said in a blog post: “Not many of us like thinking about death –especially our own. But making plans for what happens after you’re gone is really important for the people you leave behind.
“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.
Available in the account settings feature, the service allows users to have their data deleted after three, six, nine or 12 months of inactivity. Alternatively, certain contacts can be sent data from some or all of their services.
But the company said it would text a provided number or email a secondary email address to warn users before any action is taken.
What happens to a consumers data after they die is one of the most sensitive yet crucial issues to emerge in the digital age, with regulators on both sides of the Atlantic being urged to draw up privacy legislation amid claims that no laws currently exist to cover the problem.
Other companies have also attempted to tackle the question; Facebook, for example, turns users’ profiles into memorial pages, although this has raised issues over who actually “owns” the page.
According to a recent survey by online legal service Rocket Lawyer, nearly two-in-three people say they don’t know what will happen to their digital assets when they die. Just 10% of UK citizens say they have included passwords in their wills or planned to do so, ensuring their digital inheritances would be taken care of.

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