LOOKING AHEAD
A small industry is forming around
thisprocess, withnewplayerspoppingup
constantly, vying for distinction. The site
Deathswitch.com, for example, despite
havingamonikerbettersuitedtoaSwedish
thrashcoreband, emailspre-scriptedmes-
sages toachosengroupwhen theuser fails
torespondtopromptsforhispassword; few
Writer
LARRYDOBROW
’sdigital assets, suchas theyare,
arenow safely tuckedaway inanonline locker.
haveachievedmainstreamnotice.
Then there are the established play-
ers like Legacy Locker, Entrustet and
SecureSafe,whichattempt toease thepro-
cessby rendering it user-friendlyand—at
leastintheestimationofthisInternetnaïf—
secure.Giventhesubjectmatter,theformer
mightbeas importantasthe latter.
Entrustet co-founder Nathan Lustig
notesthathisfirmhas“changedthewaywe
presentourselvestopeople,notjustasaway
toprotectstuforwhenyoudiebutasaway
tokeeptrackofinventorywhenyou’realive.”
LegacyLocker’sToeman similarly stresses
the importanceofmessaging: “I’vewritten
lotsof copy inmy career, but Inever spent
more timedeliberatingonaword-by-word
basisthanIdidwhenbuildingthis,”hesays.
“Forasubject thissensitive, it’schallenging
toconvey thatwe’rea seriousbusinessand
notsound likeabank.”
--
lygotten inon thedigital-asset action.Not
surprisingly, they believe that the do-it-
yourselfoptionsare limitedand, asaresult,
couldhaveunexpected liabilities— say if
an individual’sheirs fail to scrub trade se-
crets fromhis computerbefore recycling it
and the information ends upwith a fraud-
mindedmalfeasant.
The attorneys also cite the scarcity of
stateandfederalregulationsaddressingdig-
ital assets. Asof early2012, onlyahandful
of stateshada lawon thebooks. “New laws
andregulationscanmakeeverythingso far
totallyuseless,”Weisman says. “Entrustet
mentionsthatyoumayneedawilloratrust.
Well, sure, you cando that yourself—but
thenagain, youcanalso takeout yourown
appendixwithapenknife.”
RussellJ.Fishkind,apartneratthefirm
ofSaulEwingLLPandanadjunctassociate
professoratNewYorkUniversity,notesthat
“atfirstblush,you’dsay, ‘Whatagreat idea.’ ”
At thesame time,heworriesabout thestay-
ingpowerofcompaniesofthistype:“I’m50
andmy lifeexpectancyis85.AmIgonnaget
there? If Ido, 35years fromnow, are these
systemsstillgoingtobe inplace?”
Thus the short-term future of digital-
estateplanningand legacypreservation is
largelyunshaped.Tech-mindedindividuals
will embrace the ideaor theywon’t; states
will enact laws that address suchassetsor
theywon’t. In the long term,most pundits
believethatourdigitallives—andafterlives
—willmeldnaturallywithanalogones.
“Fifteenor20yearsdown the road, this
won’tbeaspecialplace,”Carrollsays. “Digi-
talassetswill justbeanotherassetwethink
about. They’ll be apart ofwhowe are and
whatwedo.”
40
APRIL 15, 2012
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