The National Center for of Japan's consumers invited the country's citizens to take care of “digital end-of-life planning“ and gave advice on how to do this in the best possible way. In particular, it was recommended that usernames and passwords for cross-platform accounts be included in the texts of wills.
The department resorted to this non-standard recommendation in connection with a number of incidents in which citizens have difficulty canceling subscriptions issued by their loved ones before their death, because they do not know the usernames and passwords for the accounts. Dealing with such “digital heritage” it can be really difficult, so the center has developed four steps to solve this problem. The citizen is recommended:
- to make sure that his family members can unlock his smartphone or computer in case of emergency;
- to maintain a list of up-to-date usernames and passwords;
- to enter these data in a document that comes into force after the person's death;
- to use a service that allows specifying someone who will have access to his smartphone and other accounts after the citizen dies.
The Department suggests that all these issues be resolved in advance, as discovering and settling such issues after a person's death can sometimes be difficult. With the widespread use of smartphones, there are growing concerns that people will increasingly be unable to complete the digital affairs of their loved ones and stop card charges for services that the deceased will no longer be able to use.
Some entrepreneurs decided to build their business on solving these problems. For example, the Dead Man's Switch application is configured to communicate with someone selected by the registered user - if that user does not log into certain accounts within a certain time, the system contacts the successor. Meta also provides the ability to designate a “successor contact” who can manage the deceased's account.