Carl Ohman has. His book, The Afterlife of Data, discusses the implications of “forever.” When you die, your mortal remains decay. Not so your data. Your digital traces, be they social-media posts, or, perhaps, Google searches, phone-location data, online purchases, and financial records, they live on. And on. And on. Data do not decay.
Ever.
Take your Facebook account. Unless someone cancels it, or Meta purges it for lack of use, your account will remain open. The same with your Home Depot, Amazon, and countless other accounts to which your executor or your relatives have no access. Even if they had access, would they really waste their time tracking down and putting paid to your lifetime of digital journeys? Not likely. They are too busy creating their own eternal digital histories.
By Mr. Ohman’s calculations, dead Facebook users represent a substantial and growing percentage of Facebook users. Don’t believe it? Consider those reminders to wish a dead friend or relative a happy birthday. Never received one? Don’t worry, you will.
Nor is there a market demand to “clean up” these reminders of the deceased. Quite the reverse. Amazon and other firms already offer services to create chatbots, digital assistants, and other avatars of the dead. If you were so inclined, Alexa can be programmed to sound like a dead relative.
On one level, the eternal nature of your data answers the question, “Is there life after death?” Yes, your digital self will live on. Of course, other questions remain unanswered, including:
- To whom does a dead person’s data belong?
- Who owns what is created from your digital data, the avatars, the voice fakes, and any other digital analogs?
- What are the obligations of database owners to the deceased?
Low priority stuff? Possibly. Then again, the owners of your data and your post-death digital avatars may disagree.
Think about it.
Peter has spent the past twenty-plus years as an acting/consulting CFO for a number of small businesses in a wide range of industries. Peter’s prior experience is that of a serial entrepreneur, managing various start-up and turnaround projects. He is a co-founder of Keurig.
