As many of you are aware you can’t delete a facebook.com account, you only can de-activate it. I don’t know exactly why, but I was asking myself the other day, if at least your death could potentially put an end to the physical storage of all your collected data at facebook.com. This was the kick off for some further research and readings on the net, and the results might surprise the one and the other reader:
- Without notification by any one, your account will outlast you
- With an accurate notification addressed to facebook.com, your account will be “memorialized”
- If relatives don’t want to have an online memorial, facebook.com is able to de-activate the account
So by no means your account will be (automatically de-activated) and your death is no reason why your account should be physically deleted. For those readers, who don’t want their facebook.com account to outlast themselves, they obviously need to share their credentials (username and password) with a third party they trust. This person could at least deactivate your account, once you have passed away.
If you want to memorialize someone on facebook.com, you have to fill out the following form: “Report a Deceased Person’s Profile“. To discourage pranksters, facebook.comdoes require proof before sending a profile down the digital river Styx. Once facebook.com has successfully completed your request the person’s account will be memorialized, what means:
- the user will cease showing up in facebook.com’s suggestions, and information like status updates won’t show up in Facebook’s news feed,only the user’s confirmed friends can continue to view the profile and post comments on it.the user will cease showing up in facebook.com’s suggestions, and information like status updates won’t show up in Facebook’s news feed
- only the user’s confirmed friends can continue to view the profile and post comments on it
This policy was first published by Max Kelly, Facebook’s Head of Security on his following blog post: “Memories of Friends Departed Endure on Facebook“.
“We first realized we needed a protocol for deceased users after the Virginia Tech shooting, when students were looking for ways to remember and honor their classmates,” says Facebook spokeswoman Elizabeth Linder. The company responded by creating a “memorial state” for profiles of deceased users, in which features such as status updates and group affiliations are removed. Only the user’s confirmed friends can continue to view the profile and post comments on it.
If next of kin ask to have a profile taken down, Facebook will comply. IIt will not, however, hand over a user’s password to let a family member access the account, which means private messages are kept just that.”
Source: How to Manage Your Online Life When You’re Dead (Gaëlle Faure / Times)
It seems that each of us has to manage their second life on the social media in their last will, or better share your thoughts and will (and passwords?) with a very good friend and/or relative.
