The Business of Digital Death
There has always been money to be made selling the afterlife, and the digital afterlife will be no different. In the near future a host of businesses will spring to life to help us deal with virtual bliss. But what will they offer?
The digital mausoleum.
A place where people can go online to see (or download) the remains of a person. Blog posts, photos, videos, and files would all be stored (or linked to) there. The services will work much like a cemetery – pay once and it will be there forever.
I know that the issues around long term data management are complex. File formats, video codecs, plug-ins and players all contribute to the complexity. A good digital mausoleum would have to maintain the data. Tend it like the grass and the flowers.
Digital Estate Law and Control of Data
Estate lawyers make sure that your will is carried out and that your heirs get what you want them to. In the future their services will likely expand to cover online assets. As usual, these issues will revolve around control of assets and any income (or Google Ad word revenue) being made.
People are already thinking about this.
And people are already making money. AssetLock is already seeling a service, and Dead Man Switch (free) lets you send out a batch of emails when you kick the bucket.
5 Comments, Comment or Ping
John Romano
New Web site idea: deathtweet.com
A service that posts messages to social networks in the event of your death.
Dec 8th, 2008
Evan
KInd of like the “last tweet and testament”
Dec 8th, 2008
ailec
Maybe in apps like Second Life, you could offer a “record your own last words/ personally-spoken eulogy”?
or would there be something new, maybe call it e-bituaries?
Dec 8th, 2008
ailec
Read this today, and it seemed …. related….
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28182292/page/2/
I was kind of surprised
Dec 16th, 2008
laurensdelange
I walk with this in my head for about three year now. But I am no entrepreneur. The only focus is eternal storage. That is what you sell. You must guarantee that the information is maintained for ever. This may be difficult in the beginning. However after sixty or so years the stuff becomes patrimony, and it will probably take care of itself.
Like people that clean the graves and put flower, also digital data can become dear to many.
May 21st, 2009
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