Published On:Friday, May 11, 2012
Posted by devil
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It's time to draw up an elaborate will detailing who is to handle your online profiles after you are dead. This isn't us talking; this is what the US government is advising its citizens to do!
Ever wondered what would happen to your Facebook profile with its carefully cultivated friend list after you died? And did you ever think about how your Twitter handle would live up to its glowing reputation without you around? Of course you didn’t, no one thinks that ahead; our thoughts about the future are restricted to who will win the next IPL match. Thank God though; we have the Government of the USA to save humanity. The US government is now advising citizens to create a ‘social media will’. No kidding.
In a recent blog post, the US Government has advised all the citizens to create a Social Media Will to control what happens to their online profiles once they are gone. They want people to create a statement of how they would like their online identity to be handled after they have passed away. Not only that, they have even spelled out exactly how to write the will, right from appointing a social media executor to take care of your online belongings to handing him a list of all your usernames and passwords. (Hand over our PASSWORDS? Are they even serious? We bet some thirteen year old geek hacked into their id and run this blog as a joke.) So forget all thoughts of whether you are going to make it through this semester at college, your priority now is to worry about whether to have your online profiles cancelled or to have them run as a memorial. Sorry, but we are at a loss for words. Maybe it’s the thoughtfulness of the gesture that has struck us dumb. Chucking all thoughts of the ever rising recession and unemployment levels out of the window, these guys sat down and took the time out to advice people on the benefits of having a Social Media Will, complete with explicit instructions on how to draft one. Considerate, huh?
All else apart, we are just wondering what will happen once the Indian government decides to implement the idea here, which it definitely will, given our inbuilt tendency to copy everything the West does. Though its hands are full with the Air India mess, we are sure they will find a way to introduce the concept here; after all it doesn’t take much time to copy-paste the blog from the US Government’s website. Of course it means good news for the lawyers, coz where there’s a will there are at least three disputes waiting to happen. And slowly, two or three daily soaps and maybe even a reality show will spring up based on the stories of all those who were severely wronged by the Social Media Will, complete with a scary ‘aatma’ rising up from the grave to take revenge on the executor who is taking advantage of the Twitter handles left in his possession. And before you know it, Madhur Bhandarkar will have made a hard hitting film about the darker side of the social media world and there will be no hearing the end of it.
Honestly speaking though, some of our politicians could seriously do with a Social Media Will. God forbid, that once they have passed away, something untoward happen to their blog; what if someone writes an article on their blog preaching secularism and tolerance? Or worse, what if someone posts their actual bank statement for the world to see? Nah, better to have someone trusted handling their online profiles. A bit closer home, think of all the hell that would break loose if your ex happened to get hold of all your online profiles. Trust us; it won’t be a pretty sight.
So if you are worried about the safety of your online stuff, go ahead and draw up a social media will pronto. And yeah, boyfriends and girlfriends are a bad choice to name as an executor. As for us, we aren’t going to run the risk of handing a third person our list of passwords. Our wills are going to contain far more important stuff like whom to hand our limited edition Call of Duty DVDs to. So forget all this talk of social media wills, we’re sure you have better things to worry about. Long as your browsing history is cleared, you’re safe!
What do you think of the idea of writing social media wills? Are they necessary or just a waste of time? Tell us in your comments!
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