Aug 27, 2009 8:08 pm US/Eastern
Virtual Afterlife: Managing Your Digital Assets
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ―
For Denise Gallagher, the memory of her daughter Lacey will always be of the way she last saw her ... a beautiful vision in white, heading off to senior prom.
It was the night Lacey had anticipated for months, but one that turned out to be her last when she was killed in a car accident on the way to an after prom party in the Pocono Mountains.
"The car crashed into the center median ...he just lost control. They surmised that he fell asleep behind the wheel," said Gallagher.
It was a tragedy Denise never saw coming and all because plans changed.
"I'm not really sure how it all panned out, but Lacey never got into the limo and actually drove up {to the Poconos} with another group of friends," explained Gallagher.
In her grief, Denise searched for answers ...and like a growing number of people mourning loved ones, turned to Lacey's online presence to find them. There was just one problem. She couldn't gain access.
"I actually didn't have Lacey's passwords, so I was not able to access her mail," said Gallagher.
The "mail" Denise refers to was connected to her myspace profile, an account which was later frozen due to inactivity. The site's policy allows the profile to be viewed, but not accessed by a user. A similar procedure has been implemented by other social networking sites.
Facebook for instance, creates "memorialized profiles," which are restricted to the user's friends. LiveJournal also freezes accounts, but keeps them visible online. Still, that doesn't help people like Denise.
"If I had access to her account, I could have kept it up and running ...not only for my own answers, but for her friends to keep in touch."
And while most of us would rather not think about our virtual afterlife, Jeremy Toeman is betting that we will.
He recently created
Legacy Locker, a site that helps people plan for their passing by keeping a record of online passwords.
"It's there basically as a safe and secure way to pass on their digital assets to a beneficiary of their choice," said Toeman.
For thirty-dollars a month or three-hundred dollars for a lifetime, you can store files, write legacy letters and even record a video with instructions for your loved ones.
"It's morbid to think about it today. I like to think about the down the road version of it," explained Toeman.
Something we may all have to do ...
As more diaries become blogs, letters turn into emails and photo albums get uploaded online, it seems our memories are less likely to end up in the attic and more likely to be found in cyberspace.
"You know, as time goes on, you realize she really isn't coming back ... and your memories are all you have left," said Gallagher.
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If you do not opt for a service like Legacy Locker, Attorney Scott Polsky of Dischell, Bartle, Yanoff & Dooley suggests
taking three steps to secure your personal and digital assets:
1) Administer a will and power of attorney.2) Make a list of important and confidential information stored online.3) Create a hard copy of that information and determine a place to store it offline.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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