Death Vault

So, here’s an idea for any morbid entrepreneurs out there.

I have a social media presence: mostly photos and somewhat interesting posts on Facebook and LinkedIn. Karilyn and I have a company with some products that could continue being sold after we die. I also have a Vimeo account and several websites that potentially could be of interest to any remaining family members after we die.

What to do? One thought is that we could establish a trust. If the trust has enough money to keep a server running, we could make our websites and videos available to our friends and family members as long as the trust has money.

I’m wondering if there’s a better approach that could be useful to more people.

Before the Internet Age, people who might die could pass along memories written in journals, family heirlooms, and money in their bank or investment accounts.

Simple.

How to pass along our digital footprints when we die is not so obvious.

Some might claim that it doesn’t matter. Just hand over any money, and forget the rest!

But that doesn’t sit well with me. People are more than the money they may happen to accrue during their lives. What if a future historian wanted to get a better understanding of this time? Some digital artifacts could be useful.

So, who might have access to our digital remains? Some might be relevant just for family members. Others could be valuable to a much wider circle of people.

Another question: What about the stuff we don’t want others to remember about us? I’m okay with anyone knowing I had certain heroes. What if I don’t want to be remembered for each of the social media posts I happened to “LIKE” at any given time? What if I only want to be remembered for 50% of the books I read?

The immediate question raised is: Should we be remembered for things that we might be ashamed of? Who should be able to access such memories? Is it wrong to let the whole world know? Could my future grandchildren be condemned for actions that I took during a time when that seemed reasonable?

These are not easy questions to answer!