2y ago

What's you plan for your digital legacy?

Lately I started including what happens to my data in case I die unexpectedly in my threat model. As of now I'd like for everything to stay private. All my accounts have a strong password that I store on a keepass datbase that I store only on encrypted devices which themselves are protected only by PIN or Password with no biometrics (I use the pin only on my phone which is set up to get wiped after 20 failed unlock attempts to mitigate bruteforce attacks). As for what I post online, I keep it to a minimum and nothing really personal, preferring only viewing content through clients with no account when possible. I know some services allow to set up what happens after a certain period of inactivity but I was wondering if you guys can suggest anything else. Maybe some program that wipes the computer's drive after a period of inactivity? Some other tools or some tips I didn't consider?

30 comments

Honestly?
I do not care.
If I am gone, I am gone.
Any digital traces I leave behind no longer bother me and my privacy is now assured.
No one will care what is on my accounts and I think it is hubris for 99.9999% of the population to think otherwise.
EG: Of the approximately 1,000,000 people who have died on earth in the past week, unless you are Mathew Perry, no one cares what is in your protonmail account.
- Good point, I am in fact nothing compared whoever celebrity you might think of. In my case though the idea would be of some family member or friend unlocking any device (say for something like looking for a picture together or whatever file they might need) and casually stumbling on something I didn't want share. I want to have that kind of control where if I shared something with someone it's because I wanted to, everything else nobody knows about should stay that way. I mean, it's not like I'm hiding nuke codes or bigtiddygothgf.jpg but still, if I didn't tell you then you shouldn't know.
  Lastly, yeah I'm dead so it's not my problem but people will remember me for a little while more so might as well think of that too.
  
  Lastly, yeah I’m dead so it’s not my problem but people will remember me for a little while more so might as well think of that too.
  You have never been able to control how the people around you think about you when you are alive and won't be able to once you pass.
  Everyone has their secrets and I doubt that any you have will be that shocking to friends and family.
  I am not saying this to mock your preparations just to offer some perspective.
  
  If you didn’t want it shared, why did you write it down? The only way to leave no trace is to leave no trace. Don’t want Alice to know something? Don’t tell Bob. Once the information leaves your control you genuinely have no control over it.
- *I don't care who finds my porn, I'm dead. *
- I concur. Once I'm dead I give zero shits who looks at what on my devices. Have a blast folks.
My watch will have ended. Give zero fucks about the things in my life left over that will erode in two generations, if not sooner.
If you want to make sure the data's never recoverable, just use a password in addition to your hardware keys to unlock your computers. So when you die it's completely gone forever. No one will ever decrypt it
If you want to make sure people can open your archives after your death, but only after your death, you could look at bit warden's emergency release functionality.
You could also implement Shamir's secret sharing, on some print out paper, so that two or more people would be required to collude to unlock your secrets. And if they're trusted people in different jurisdictions, you know they'll only do that after you're dead. Then they could use that to get to your digital legacy, your crypto wallets, your decryption keys etc. https://github.com/cyphar/paperback
- Wow this paperback thing is a cool idea. I was looking to not share anything but I'm sure I can apply it to other cases.
  
  Yeah it's really neat. There's a couple other projects. But I think this is the most polished.
  If you do use it, for long-term archival, make sure you get acid-free paper heavy stock. And use a nice quality printer. You might want a laminate it as well. Just to be safe I would print out two copies of everything, and only laminate one copy. And store them in separate folders wherever you're going to store them. That way if there's any issue if the lamination process the original data would just survive in the paper.
  It's a great way to do your backups. You can store your encrypted data backed up in the cloud to multiple places. But you can store your keys offline with Shamir's secret sharing.
Hard to implement, but I would like to have a dead man's switch that just erased every single trace of me, then post an obituary that says: 404 - person not found.
- 404 tribute video
  o7!
  
  Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
  https://www.piped.video/watch?v=v2FsCkYVfhw
  Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
  I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
To those that "Humpf, don't care, my data dies with me", PLEASE remember the significant people in your life will have to deal with admin stuff after your death. And it's on you to make that process a misery or not for them.
Maybe make sure they have at least access to whatever's needed to deal with stuff after your demise?
If you don't have friends and family or hate all humans, don't mind me of course.
- What administrative stuff?
  
  Bills still need to be paid.
  Bank accounts need to be accessed.
  Doors need to be opened.
  Etc...etc...
  Sure there are ways around most of this. Presentation of a death certificate usually will get you access to most things eventually. But sometimes that takes time and a lot of administrative for the family.
  At least that is what I have heard, thankfully I haven't had to deal with a family death personally.
None. I don't feel any need for the privacy of my corpse.
I don’t really care about what happens to my body or my stuff after I die. Growing up in a hoarding home, my goal is enjoy what I have now and minimize what others have to deal with when I’m gone.
If I go unexpectedly, the people in my life need easy access to my stuff to ensure they’re not fucked by rapacious corporations trying to profit off “sorry thesmokingman died someone didn’t cancel the electric so you owe a ton.” Any assets I have (after student loans, of course) should be easily accessible. The people close to me might want some token of me or some insight into what data I like to hoard. I’ve got a dead man’s switch with my password manager that goes to specific people. They can have it all.
If there’s no one in your life, by all means, nuke your shit. If there are people in your life, why do you care what happens to your things when you’re dead? You’re dead.
Maybe some program that wipes the computer's drive after a period of inactivity? Some other tools or some tips I didn't consider?
I've been toying with the idea of writing a dead man's switch in the form of a telegram bot that monitors my profile for automatic account deletion, if thats even possible. I'd have it send my partner an email with everything she needs to get into bitwarden and to cash out hidden assets. Having it trigger a mass deletion instead would fit your use case.
Honestly, nobody is going to care enough to try to understand the overengineered hell/beauty that is my home data centre where I keep all my stuff. I’m at peace with the fact that stuff is as good as bit rot if I kick the bucket for some reason any time soon
I don't have any data anyone else would care about after I'm dead. My friends and family have some pictures and videos. What else would they want? My code?
You immediately reminded me of this song: https://youtu.be/FUPstXCqyus?si=e-YTy6fC-bu9ERfa
- Lmao the first part is really like "why yes I do have a keepass database locked with a password, key file and hardware key inside of a password protected zip inside a veracrypt container inside a pin protected USB which I keep inside a safe of which I melted the keys and now unlockable only with a PIN"
- Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
  https://piped.video/FUPstXCqyus?si=e-YTy6fC-bu9ERfa
  Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
  I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
I don't post pictures or personal info online at all, but I do want my family to have access to personal storage of pictures and poetry etc so I do have a piece of paper that contains a master key they can use to get further access to my stuff. My kids all know where it's stored so they can get in.
While online I have most of my items under lock and key, my personal computer at home is set to boot automatically with my password (since the attack vector of "having the feds raid my home" is fortunately not an issue for me). So in the rare case that I'm no longer available, my family can just get my user names and passwords from my computer

30 comments