Does digital privacy continue after death and how safe is our data from cybercrime? What happens to social media accounts when we die? Most people don’t know what to do with their data or that social media accounts like Facebook, can be memorialized and legacy executors can be appointed.
A service that creates a digital replica of someone without their participation raises complex ethical issues regarding consent and privacy. Companies are not obliged to check that the users of their services are consensual or in fact, have died. There is no law stopping anyone from creating an avatar of another person. These are the new norms around legacies we leave behind in the digital world.
The idea of an autobiographical interactive legacy, driven by markets, publicity, creative technologies, and years of digital grieving is finally upon us. The technology to speak to our dead relatives has been reintroduced to consumers by death tech companies like StoryFile and other market-driven startups.
Ginger Liu is the founder of Ginger Media & Entertainment, a Ph.D. Researcher in artificial intelligence and visual arts media, and an author, journalist, artist, and filmmaker. Listen to the Podcast, Find me on LinkedIn.
The death tech industry is booming but will it help or hinder how we grieve?