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Davidow, Davidow, Siegel & Stern, LLP
Long Island's Elder Law, Special Needs & Estate Planning Firm

Friday, April 26, 2013

Google Develops 'digital will'

Google has a way to ensure your data dies when you do.

The international tech giant, best known for its much-used search engine, has launched an Inactivity Account Manager, a "digital will" of sorts that allows users to determine what to do with their online "digital assets" once it's no longer needed.

The account manager, which can be activated by a new setting on a Google account page, will also allow the user to have their data expunged after three, six, nine or 12 months of inactivity and users can also designate "trusted contacts" to receive the data.

"Not many of us like thinking about death - especially our own.  But making plans for what happens after you're gone is really important for the people you leave behind.  So today, we're launching a new feature that makes it easy to tell Google what you want done with your digital assets when you die or can no longer use your account," product manager Andreas Tuerk wrote in a posting on Google's publicity blog.

"We hope that this new feature will enable you to plan your digital afterlife - in a way that protects your privacy and security - and make life easier for your loved ones after you're gone," Tuerk added.

In the same vein, but with a twist, a new online app allows people to keep tweeting posthumously.  LivesOn makes it possible by tweeting for you after you've died.

The Twitter app, which came out in March, examines your tweets to learn about your tweeting patterns and creates tweets of its own in your, uh, memory.

It examines your tweets while you're alive, learns about your tweeting patterns and then generates its own to match after you're gone.

An executor, named by users before their demise, notifies the server and then takes control of the account.

Source:  www.thestar.com/life/technology; written by Bruce DeMara, 4/12/13

As you can see, there are many aspects of your life that need to be considered when it comes to advance planning.  We have stressed for years how important it is to plan early so that you can get everything in order the right way, the first time.  Working side by side with our firm will provide you with great peace of mind and eliminate uncertainties and mistakes that can destroy a family, not only financially, but emotionally.

If you have completed your planning, we salute you and remind you to check in with us every now and then as life's circumstances continuously change.  If you haven't, we invite you to begin the process.  Start with attending one of our upcoming free seminars!