The Internet Never Forgets: What Happens to Your Data When You Die?

My father died of brain caner in 2010, his email still works and I figured out his password to log in. He got 11,000+ messages since 9/1/2010 mostly junk but I noticed a few people were still sending him updates about Telephone Pioneers that got sick or died. He used to work for AT&T so I linked to his obituary and told them that he passed away.

He had a Yahoo email but it got deleted for not being accessed in a long time. He used it to play Java based games like Pool and other stuff at Yahoo Games.

He never got into social networks, but I could read invites from people trying to invite him after he passed away, not understanding that he is dead.

He had first initial middle initial last name for his email at sbcglobal.net so some other people with the same initials accidentally entered his email into websites and email lists.

My mother doesn't get the Internet anymore and stopped using an IBM Windows XP PC long ago. So I got permission to read her email on my PC and get my dad's email as soon as I figured out what his password was.

There are so many things that require an Internet connection these days, and since she doesn't have Internet I have to sign her online using my PC.

I had a friend who killed himself in 1999, had two different Yahoo accounts and I guessed the questions to reset his passwords, it asked what his mother's original middle name was. I gave access to the accounts to his widow to see if she could contact the people he talked to about his death. Some of them didn't want to believe her, she gave the address of the cemetery where his grave was. I am sure over time those email accounts were deleted due to inactivity by Yahoo as well. I tried to get him a job, and he got recruiter emails and he didn't read any of them, just stuffed them into a jobs folder.