Jewelry, furniture, real estate: these can still be regulated relatively easily in the will. But what happens to all of our bank and email accounts, subscriptions and social media profiles when we are no longer there? Gunthild Kupitz did some research.
Recently my friend Tina called. “Don’t be alarmed. This might be a bit of a strange conversation.” She would soon be flying to Botswana with the family. In the very unlikely event that they were to fall apart, I should know that she had amended her will and named me as heir. “You know me: it’s important to me that everything financial is taken care of.” Tina worked as a bank clerk for several years; that shapes.
How does it actually work with digital data?
But this was the first time I had heard that she had already made a will. And me? I haven’t taken care of anything yet. Why? My daughter should get everything anyway. But as I now know, she will not only inherit my apartment, the furniture and books, but also all of the digital data. That means everything that is on my laptop, iPad and cell phone; everything stored on my hard drives and USB sticks; all emails, chats, social media accounts, bank account access, subscriptions. In 2018, the Federal Court of Justice ruled that digital data and access rights are inherited like real objects – with all rights and contractual obligations. Which means: My daughter would have to take care of every one of my accounts, cancel every account – from Netflix to Paypal to my bank accounts and social media profiles.
This cannot be done. I don’t even remember where I registered. I was never interested in it either. If I die, my digital self will eventually delete itself – I thought. But that’s not true: Our lives are finite, but our profiles are not.
Take care of capturing your own desires
A call to Rebekka Weiß. The lawyer heads the trust and security department at the digital association Bitkom, which in 2021 came to the – surprising to me – result in a representative survey: 16 percent of Germans over 16 have their digital one estate already regulated, 24 percent at least partially, 53 percent are aware that they have to take care of it; Only seven percent are, like me, completely clueless. Of the 40 percent who said they had at least partially organized their digital heritage, two thirds noted access to PINs and devices, a third noted access to bank accounts and insurance, but only a quarter noted access to online accounts and messenger services.
Because I have never changed the password for my laptop or the PIN for my cell phone, my 15-year-old daughter has known them for years. Have I already sorted out my digital chaos? “Unfortunately no,” says Weiss. “The digital legacy is about a person’s last will, their wishes, what happens to their data after their death. And access to them.” Does the daughter know all this?
Well, I don’t yet know my final wishes regarding digital data. And as far as login details go, my daughter would know the password for the accounts she knows about – but not for the many others. What now?
A regular inventory can help
“Regardless of the topic of digital heritage, I recommend regularly checking which accounts actually exist – and then cleaning them out. Just like you do with your closet,” says Weiß. If, like me, you don’t use a password manager to create complex and therefore secure passwords that can be managed with a master password, you can use various tools to keep things organized: whether it’s an app, an Excel spreadsheet or a Word document, secured on your computer or an encrypted one USB stick, everything is suitable, says Weiß. She only advises against handwritten notes. For security reasons, they would have to be stored in a locker – impractical if you change access data, for example. Because the list must be current. It makes sense to list the paid services first because they should be canceled first, then the other accounts in order of decreasing importance.
It is similarly important to clarify for yourself which data you actually want to make accessible to your surviving relatives. These wishes should be noted behind each account. For me that would mean: “Download allowed” for family photos in the cloud and “delete unread” for chats.
Powers of attorney can make a lot of things easier
Since some online services make it difficult for heirs to gain access to the accounts or even deny it, the consumer advice center advises authorizing a trusted person to take care of the digital data in the event of a serious illness or death. Without a power of attorney, evidence such as inheritance certificates, death certificates or certified documents are often required to delete accounts, download data and terminate contracts. But if you have a power of attorney and know where the list with the access data is, you can do everything necessary if the worst comes to the worst – assuming he or she knows the password to open the list on the USB stick, the PC or via a password manager in the cloud.
This password should be at least 20 to 30 characters long and consist of a meaningless string of numbers and letters, says IT expert Jochim Selzer, who focuses on the topic of security at the Chaos Computer Club. His recommendation: “Divide this non-word and give the halves to two people you trust completely but who only know each other cursorily.” Only together would they get the list of accounts and access data. A process that makes online password managers in particular secure: “If an account is hacked on one of the two, you will only ever find half a password.”
Speaking of security: Selzer finds my one-password-for-all-accounts strategy extremely dangerous; it’s essentially an invitation to all hackers. “Once cracked, reputation-damaging or even criminal crap can be spread via social media profiles or by email.”
This would make it clear what I will do on the next long winter evenings. This is also the case for my friend Tina. She hasn’t yet thought about what will happen to her data.
Checklist: How to manage your digital estate
1. Get an overview
List all accounts and profiles with username and password and determine what should happen to them: Secure? Delete?Transfer? Or have it memorialized? Also decide who should have access to your computer, hard drives and cell phone and to what extent.
2. Clean up data
Photos or emails that you don’t want others to see or read should be deleted or saved to an external hard drive with the note “Please destroy.”
3. Save list
Save all access data encrypted on a USB stick, your computer or your cell phone. Alternatively, you can also set up a password manager. Your data is then protected in a similar way to a safe; You then only have to remember one password: the master password. In the event of an emergency, give the people you trust each half of a static emergency password.
4. Grant power of attorney
Designate one or more trusted people who will take care of your digital data in the event of a serious illness or after your death. A handwritten power of attorney is sufficient. Templates are available on the consumer advice center website or on juraforum.de. You should give the people you trust a copy with information about where the USB stick or document is located, as well as the access data.