In the digital age, death may have more complex meanings. Network data will not disappear naturally with the departure of people. Without prior protection measures, the "Black Mirror"-style horror digital afterlife (Digital Afterlife) is not an unrealistic science fiction proposition. Therefore, the question of particular concern to us is: Who has the right to deal with the "behind the scenes" of the user's online world? How to prevent people's social accounts from becoming digital ghosts? In this issue,
Omnimedia Group exclusively compiles the Medium feature articles, and deeply analyzes the current situation and problems of digital heritage processing. The digital afterlife: surprise or shock? Esther Earl's mother cried when she job title email list received an email from her deceased daughter, her heartfelt words comforting the family. Esther's followers on Twitter also received a tweet she set to automatically send, and they still express their memories and thoughts under this tweet to this day. "It's Friday, January 14, 2010. I just want to say: I wish I was alive when this post was posted." Esther's mother believes that her daughter's tweets are for herself, not her family:
"Esther wished she could receive these messages in person, and I think she still had a strong desire to live before she died." (See full media.) Past article: "How to deal with online virtual identity after death: digital heritage and the business behind it")Esther's pre-set timed emails and tweets are a consolation from heaven, but the sudden "reappearance" and greeting of the deceased without my permission would only be alarming. In 2012, a photo of a deceased soldier was posted on a dating site's ad page with the captions "Soldiers looking for love" and "Soldiers need you". But the family of Lieutenant Peter Burks, who was killed in the war four years ago,
are appalled and outraged by the misuse of photos on dating sites. " Dating sites are definitely trying to make money for traffic , and that makes me sick and horrified," Burks' father said . Burks' family has taken two dating sites to court for allegedly misappropriating images. In response, the dating website responded: "This case should not be sued." Because there are thousands of third-party merchants on the site to control the content of advertisements. In another case, a woman received a new Facebook message from a deceased friend who apparently had taken over the friend's account and continued to harass her ,
said Faheem Hussain, an assistant professor at Arizona State University who studies the digital afterlife . Although she could choose to block messages, she was hesitant because it was her last contact with her "friends". Since most social platforms fail to provide adequate protection for deceased users' accounts, their digital heritage is vulnerable to theft and misuse, making the aforementioned horror stories no longer uncommon.