There's indeed life after death. Digital life that is. What's more, it's a blooming business venture in recent years in Sweden, England and the United States, and just beginning in Spain.
The data belonging to a deceased who in life had an Internet profile, could have economic value. The family photos sent around by email, the correspondence interchanged on the net, reflections - more or less profound - poured out in Twitter at emotional moments or by impulse, the archives of music, the collection of certain type of movies or even vintage ones ... the personal information, intimate sometimes ... that were left floating on the digital cloud after death, don't just contain sentimental value; likely economic value as well.
Who is to say, for example, that the now deceased person didn't dedicate his life writing a book, or hoarded up a very important collection of music, or paintings, or other rare treasures? A Spanish company of funeral services, 'Memora', offers, as from December, a new service for clients to recuperate digital memories of the deceased. This business has been functioning for 3 years in Sweden and the United States, but pioneer in Spain. It's possibly also the first time, on worldwide level, that this kind of offer is linked as part of the funeral services.
It consists of tracking, tracing and other means of search, on all the information left by the dead person. Family or close friends can decide if they want to eliminate the data or conserve them. Respect to rights of intimacy is guaranteed, in that it would only act on the exact wish of the heirs and only with their approval.
The demand of such service is still very incipient in Spain, but growing fast in England where 11% of the citizens have included in their testaments their Internet passwords, to avoid losing their personal information and digital contents. According to The Centre of Social and Creative Technology of the University of London, the generalized use of Smartphones and other similar digital devices have greatly increased the possibilities of storing films, photos, email and all variety of work information.
This brings to another topic: what happens to the pages or websites belonging to private individuals who have now passed away? That needs another Blog, perhaps another day.
