Scared Monkeys Discussion Forum

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2417677,00.asp
Google Inactive Account Manager Lets Users Plan the 'Digital Afterlife'
April 11, 2013

While most of us will prepare a will at some point in our lives in order to divvy up physical assets, what happens to our digital lives?
Google today tackled the subject of the "digital afterlife" with the launch of a service that will allow users to designate how they want their accounts handled after they die.
The offering, dubbed Inactive Account Manager, lets people "tell us what to do with your Gmail messages and data from several other Google services if your account becomes inactive for any reason," Google said in a blog post.
Inactive Account Manager ("not a great name, we know," Google said) gives Google users a few options for how Google should handle account information.
One option is to set a timeout period. If your account is dormant for three, six, nine, or 12 months, for example, Google will delete your data or categorize it as inactive.
Users can also designate up to 10 trusted contacts, who will receive data from some or all of your Google services, including: +1s; Blogger; Contacts and Circles; Drive; Gmail; Google+ Profiles, Pages and Streams; Picasa Web Albums; Google Voice; and YouTube.
Read more...