Thursday, August 30, 2012

Digital insurance?

Here's something you may not have thought about (I know I hadn't): "what happens to all of your online stuff when you die?"

Many (most?) of us have an iTunes library, multiple email accounts, and various social media accounts (Twitter, FaceBook, and the like), even online financial accounts (PayPal, for instance). Some of these (like Amazon or PayPal) may even have a virtual wad of cash sitting in them.

So who "inherits" them once you've gone to that big digital vault in the sky?

Turns out, the answer's not so simple: sure, you can leave a note with your logons and passwords, but will it be found? And do you really want someone updating your FaceBook page after you're gone (although that might be kinda funny)?

These are just some of the issues we face as this digital age begins to mature. One company, called SecureSafe, offers a pretty neat service: it lets "users upload all their documents and passwords to their account, once it is set up and assign the content to beneficiaries." It even includes a "fail-safe" option in case "reports of your death are exaggerated."

One wonders if there isn't an insurance product opportunity in here somewhere...
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