Safer End of Engineered Life

Digital Data, unlike most phenomena, do not have a finite lifetime, and technically speaking can be stored forever. Such digital ‘immortality’ introduces legal, environmental, security, and safety challenges. For example, data protection regulations, including GDPR, may not protect our personal data after our physical death. While our digital data can outlive ourselves, the tech companies get to decide how to deal with our data and accounts. Digital inheritance is not recognised in many countries, despite the rise of cryptocurrencies. Also, data storage and maintenance are energy-demanding, and not setting an end-of-lifetime for digital data can have environmental impacts.