In the modern, hyper-connected world, what we leave online after we die can be as important and valuable as what we leave offline. We have online accounts for banking, shopping, subscriptions, bill payments and more. Will people be able to access these after we have died? Do they need to? What are the security implications? Equally, or perhaps more, importantly, what about the archives of personal history we leave online - our social media accounts, photo archives and e-mails. Do we want people to be able to access these or would we prefer them to be deleted?
These are big questions that society is only just beginning to grapple with.
The Digital Legacy Association has put together a collection of free resources for the general public and professionals. You can also find a guide to digital legacies on the Funeral Guide site.
