Japanese authorities warn people to leave clues with the accounts and passwords they have for the various services contracted online, PHOTO: Pongpipat Yatra / Dreamstime.com
Japan’s National Center for Consumer Affairs urged the country’s citizens to start “digital end-of-life planning” and offered some advice on how to do it, it reports. The Register.
The authorities under the Japanese government motivated their somewhat morbid recommendation by several recent incidents in which citizens had difficulty canceling subscriptions that their relatives had signed before their death.
Their relatives could not cancel the subscriptions because they did not know the usernames or passwords of the deceased.
The agency warned that the resulting “digital legacy” can be unpleasant to manage, so earlier this month it suggested four steps to simplify things and avoid problems:
- Make sure family members can unlock your smartphone or computer in an emergency;
- Maintain a list of your subscriptions, user IDs and passwords;
- Consider putting these details in a document that will be available after death;
- Use a service that allows you to designate a person who has access to your smartphone and other accounts after your death.
Given the widespread use of smartphones, the organization said it fears more people will find themselves unable to manage their loved ones’ digital affairs – and stop automatic payments for services the dead can’t afford. more use.
Some entrepreneurs have already speculated an opportunity in digital services related to death
The Register also notes that some entrepreneurs have already identified “end-of-life services” as a business opportunity.
“Dead Man’s Switch” applications can be configured to contact people chosen by customers if they do not access certain accounts for a predetermined period of time, considered a possible indicator of death.
Meta, the company that owns the social networks Facebook, Instagram and The threadsplatform launched and in the EU in December of last year, it also offered the option of designating a “legacy contact” to manage the account in the event of the user’s death.
“These services are not just opportunistic: bereaved people have a lot to manage, and executing a will is not always a simple process,” concludes The Register, a technology site.
article PHOTO: © Pongpipat Yatra | Dreamstime.com
