Your digital afterlife.
As per usual, when the title of an article sounds pretty cool, Google normally has something to do with it. Take my article on Google Glass and the Driverless Car for instance, both based on something awesome that Google have been getting up to. Well luckily for us, Google have continued to produce some interesting innovations, the latest of which being the 'Inactive Account Manager".
I'll be honest, I'm not expecting you to be all that interested at this point, so I'll try and re-capture your interest by telling you what it actually does. Basically, it allows individuals to manage their 'digital afterlife' by sending passwords to trusted contacts if you have been inactive.
The idea seems pretty solid. After all, with the internet taking over, people are leaving behind fewer physical items such as letters and photos for loved ones to remember them by.
My first reactions of this were actually quite negative. Sure it's all very good to think that our loved ones will cherish the messages in our Gmail account and all our documents, but all it takes is a bit of misplaced trust, and your supposed friend could be scaring the shit out of people by emailing them from your account.
Then there's the problem of what you're able to 'pass on'. For example, the service allows you to pass on documents, emails, and blogs, but won't allow music, books, or movies.This is all down to some digital content laws and it's pretty reasonable, but still, that's the stuff that people might actually want!
Just before I end I should probably point out that this new Google service isn't compulsory so you're not being forced to leave all you're passwords to your family once you've died.
Anyway, whether this latest 'gimmick' will actually benefit individuals is up for discussion, but personally I think it's just a bit too pointless.
I'll be honest, I'm not expecting you to be all that interested at this point, so I'll try and re-capture your interest by telling you what it actually does. Basically, it allows individuals to manage their 'digital afterlife' by sending passwords to trusted contacts if you have been inactive.
The idea seems pretty solid. After all, with the internet taking over, people are leaving behind fewer physical items such as letters and photos for loved ones to remember them by.
My first reactions of this were actually quite negative. Sure it's all very good to think that our loved ones will cherish the messages in our Gmail account and all our documents, but all it takes is a bit of misplaced trust, and your supposed friend could be scaring the shit out of people by emailing them from your account.
Then there's the problem of what you're able to 'pass on'. For example, the service allows you to pass on documents, emails, and blogs, but won't allow music, books, or movies.This is all down to some digital content laws and it's pretty reasonable, but still, that's the stuff that people might actually want!
Just before I end I should probably point out that this new Google service isn't compulsory so you're not being forced to leave all you're passwords to your family once you've died.
Anyway, whether this latest 'gimmick' will actually benefit individuals is up for discussion, but personally I think it's just a bit too pointless.