Ask HN: What happens to your Facebook account when you die? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What happens to your Facebook account when you die?

1 pointAdilD9 comments

We all know that when you delete your facebook account, it still exists within their servers but the reasons why that make sense (i.e. in case you want to come back, their data using purposes) are not as applicable if you've passed away.

So there is the question of ownership. For example, could your family request control of your account? I'd rather this than facebook or my account sitting idle but then again, if you haven't consented to it, that doesn't seem right.

There is also the question of your footprint. Does facebook delete your account on your behalf (assuming they are notified) or does it just sit there like a virtual tombstone?

Finally there is the question of information. Assuming facebook knows about your passing ans deletes your account, do they still hold that information in their servers as they do with other people who have deleted their accounts?

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I don't think that your family can request control of your account, but they can request that it is deleted (or hidden, I don't know what FB does internally).

I've had friends who've passed away, and their facebook is still up; people write messages on their wall every once in a while saying that they miss them and so forth, so in a sense, it becomes like a virtual memorial. I've also read stories about families that wanted their deceased relative's facebook account deleted, but they didn't know any of the security questions or other information, so Facebook wouldn't delete it.

I think a good solution would be for Facebook to automatically deactivate (but not delete) your account if you haven't logged in for a year. Thus, if you ever go away for a while, forget about your account, etc. it will be there when you get back, but if you've died, it's automatically removed (in a sense).

Digital assets after death are still handled extremely poorly. In most cases your information on the digital servers is your property, so you should be able to direct your executor / executrix to notify the necessary sites and have them act accordingly. However the action is not going to be speedy.

My option is to save all my necessary login informations, encrypt it, and leave in my will for the executor/trix to handle and act out my instructions.

This topic is one I've pondered as a basis for a startup but I have yet to find a really significant business plan surrounding it.

I agree that digital assets are barely a consideration for people especially in relation to a topic like this. The idea of creating some sort of standard way and turning it into a business is an intriguing one - why couldn't you just have something akin to a password keeper (like a virtual security box) that you must provide a person to pass onto in the event that you pass away?

I'd probably pay a small amount for that, assuming that the security features were incredible.

Well if they just want a password keeper than they can use a desktop password tracker and share the master key with the necessary people. What I'm talking about is more akin to being an online executor rather than just a password storage location.

Some of the issues I've considered:

1) Giving a password to someone is a major security hole. They could lose it, it could be stolen, etc. This is going to be a key to your entire (ideally) online presence. And for people with online wealth this poses a significant issue.

2) This sort of system requires updating and ideally you'd want to make it as simple as possible.

3) What if not all of your digital assets are online website accounts. What about MMOs? Or FTPs etc. Online banking.

4) The digital information security as you mentioned will of course be a large priority.

5) What if a client doesn't have someone to give their information to? Then it would / could fall on us to be aware of his death. I haven't found a good way to do this other than a rather morbid dead-man switch. Call them at some frequency just to check up on them...

There could be other reasons why they retain data. For example, it could be to maintain data integrity. Let's say you've sent messages to people, left comments, written on walls, etc. When you delete your account it's going to be much easier to flip a flag somewhere to indicate that the account is no longer active than it will be to remove any trace of your existence there.

Think about it. It's not an especially easy problem to solve. The data that people put on the site can relate to each other. If you remove some pieces those relationships break and context is lost. Not to mention, finding and removing the data could be an intensive task, especially when it could be scattered across many shards.

There's also the matter of how remaining users will feel when data you've left for them suddenly disappears. If you've sent me a message and I chose to leave it in my inbox indefinitely why should it vanish because you've decided to delete your account? You sent it to me. Isn't it mine now?

The reasons for abandoning an account are independent of the reasons for retaining the data associated with that account so they would be just as applicable in the case of death. That said, I have no idea how Facebook would handle the situation. It really seems to be an issue of control of the account and not so much data retention.

This is the reason my wife and I share Facebook passwords. Presumably, if one of us dies, the other one will want to be able to rapidly revise the Facebook page of the other. Maybe Facebook will die before either of us, but it's good to plan ahead.

It's also possible to entirely delete a Facebook account.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=16929680703

I see the steps here include logging in as a particular Facebook member before following a specified Facebook link, so that is why you and your loved ones may wish to plan ahead for password exchanging (perhaps only effective on death, as specified in a will).

There is a special 'In Memoriam' mode apparently, although I have yet to see it.

Me to. I suppose, at least in my case, that's a good thing because it means no one on my FB has passed away yet.

just googled http://legacylocker.com which seems to handle it

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