April 2012 American Way Magazine (2) - page 34

customer serviceatCribandTeenCity. At
the same time, we never thought anyone
wouldsuggestweensureouronline immor-
tality.Well,at leastnotanyonewhocharges
bythehour.
As it turns out, preserving or eradicat-
ing a digital legacy hasmorphed into an
exactingproject repletewith legal andethi-
cal pitfalls.Whilemost of us assume that
nothingdieson the Internet, the reality is
farmorecomplicated, and that’sbefore tal-
lyingtheotherassets—password-protected
brokerage accounts, intellectual-property
rights,unpublishedphotosandmanuscripts
— that must be accounted for when their
ownershuesothismortalcoil.
“It takesus intoa cornerof the Internet
thatwehaven’t stopped to consider,” says
JohnRomano, co-author and co-founder,
withEvanCarroll,
A„ †‡ˆ‰Š‹ŒŽ‘ˆ,Ž’ˆ“”• †Ž•– —˜‰Šˆ
an attorney’s officewith their newborn
child in tow, hoping to tackle thedreary
taskthatisestateplanning.Afteradrawn-
out,gloomyconversationaboutearthlypossessionsand
thefiduciaries and executorswhowould ensure their
proper transfer, the lawyer set asideonemanila folder
andopenedanother. “Now let’s talkabout yourdigital
assets,”hechirped.
Thecouple,otherwiseknownas“mywife”and“me,”
shothimtheirbestwhat’s-this-about?glance.Ofcourse
we feel strongly that our digital assets shouldbepre-
served.Futuregenerationscould learnmuchabout the
evolutionofsocialmedia— indeed,muchabouthuman
nature— frommywife’s Facebook roll call of birth-
daywishes or frommy one-Tweet whine about poor
LOOKING AHEAD
Ÿ¡¢Ž££¡¤ˆ¥£ˆ†
˜••“ŒŠ£ŽŠ˜ˆ‰¥¡ ¦Ž‡ Œ §Š ˜‰¥ £‘
E-statePlanning
Preserving (ordeleting)
your DIGITALLEGACY
is thenew reality
whenpreparing for life’s
ultimate transition.
•CONTINUEDONPAGE39
34 APRIL 15, 2012 AA.COM/AMERICANWAY