Survey on the Fate of Digital Footprints after Death

When we die, we leave imprints of our online lives behind. What should be the fate of these digital footprints after our death? Using a crowdsourced online survey with 400 participants from four countries, we investigate how users want their digital footprint handled after their death, how they would like to communicate these preferences, and whom they would entrust with carrying out this part of their will. We poll users' sentiments towards an online service curating digital footprints. We let users comment on design questions re- garding this service posed by Locasto, Massimi, and De Pasquale (2011, NSPW). Interestingly, responses across countries and religions were similar. The vast majority of participants had never considered the fate of their digital footprint. When faced with the choice, our participants request a non-profit service primarily for deleting their accounts upon receiving a death certificate. I. INTRODUCTION Throughout our lives, we accumulate various online accounts, contribute to blogs and wikis, and engage in social networks. When we die, this digital footprint remains—alongside several unresolved questions: What should happen with our digital footprint? Which traces of our online lives should be deleted, conserved, inherited, or treated otherwise? Who should we entrust with handling our digital footprint according to our will? How would we like to communicate our will to our followers or to our online-only friends? Would we like to be mourned online and, if so, how and where? While this subject is increasingly discussed in academic circles, little is known about what end-users really want with respect to their digital death. Currently, we lack policies and systems to help users arrange the retirement of their accounts or the inheritance of their digital belongings. Any potential solution for this complex matter can only be successful if the privacy, security, and ethical challenges surrounding its design are resolved in alignment with the users' preferences. Our contribution consists of the first survey on this topic in which we poll 400 participants from the United States, Great Britain, India, and a selection of Asian countries. Through a crowdsourcing survey, we inquire which fate our participants intend for their digital footprints when they die. We investigate which online services participants would use to prepare for the Permission to freely reproduce all or part of this paper for noncommercial purposes is granted provided that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Reproduction for commercial purposes is strictly prohibited without the prior written consent of the Internet Society, the first-named author (for reproduction of an entire paper only), and the author's employer if the paper was prepared within the scope of employment. USEC '14, 23 February 2014, San Diego, CA, USA Copyright 2014 Internet Society, ISBN 1-891562-37-1 http://dx.doi. org/10.14722/usec.2014. 23049 eventuality of their death and how they feel about a unified service curating their digital footprints after their death. Finally, we collect our participants' experiences with handling the digital footprint of a deceased, receiving automated messages from a deceased, and mourning online. Some differences emerged based on country or religion, but overall participants expressed similar attitudes. We find that the majority of our participants would want their digital footprint to be deleted, or handed to their next of kin. When asked about different account types, participants express clear preferences, again favoring deletion—even for their contributions to collaboration platforms. We ask participants which features of death-related online services they would use and who should be entrusted with operating these services. Our participants would like an online service for deleting accounts that acts upon receipt of a death certificate and should be run by a non-profit organization. This deviates from the features offered by existing online services, many of which are for-profit and prompt for liveness on a regular basis. Our results provide insight into how the privacy and security issues surrounding this sensitive topic are viewed by end-users.