The March issue of BlogMagazine was published my article on the theme of 'digital heritage, let me know what you think

It is easy to see how technologies have revolutionized our attitudes and our daily actions and how increasing the number of people using new technologies for banking, medical book, enter into contracts, maintain contact and trade store photos of family and vacations.
We are all aware of the fact that now many of our belongings were dematerialized (just think, in fact, the photos or matched), and that much of what is important to us both online (from our thoughts to our banking ), but we are still not aware of the problems that this may result when there will be more.

Heritage (digital inheritance) is still spoken too little in Italy, while the problem was posed for years in other countries like the U.S., most technologically advanced, where users have already started to question the fate of their digital lives.
Almost everyone now, we have e-mail stored on the server of our provider, a profile on Facebook (or other social networks), photographs stored on an online storage service, but also files, images and documents stored on our laptops, maybe password protected.

The simple question is, what happens to "our bit" when we die?

As known, the law of succession governing the hereditary material takes the teachings of the Roman law, and (still) does not deal specifically with our digital heritage, but this gap does not prevent us to consider some legal issues related to this topical issue.

Similarly to what happens in the real world, even in the bits of the solution is always advisable to think before choosing which trim the will to give their digital assets and relationships. In this way, in fact, we will have full control of our identities and we can avoid unpleasant situations.
For example, if we are present on social networks might decide to entrust our profiles to an heir, appointing the management, or, if you want to be remembered for a particular activity (charity, social engagement or particular branch of knowledge), we will have so that our profiles and our web pages to be entrusted to a foundation, nonprofit, provide to use our online presence (and our contacts) to achieve objectives and preserve the values ​​that we were more loved ones during our earthly life.
Similarly we will have to leave those devices that contain our files and accounts on several cloud computing services which we are members, stating - if you want - use that our heirs will be able to do with those data.

Obviously, this implies that there is nothing that we intend to keep hidden from our loved ones, and conversely, if for reasons of expediency, we do not want some information is known (eg, abortion, marriage, or a dismissal) we appoint an executor to take care to close our profiles on social networks, or to remove all our emails and all files that do not want us to survive.
Appears quite evident, therefore, that to leave the precise provisions is the preferred solution, also in a position to put our heirs not to meet great difficulties after the opening of the succession.

If we decide to leave will, in fact, the situation is more complex: in this case, we must assess in each case the events of our digital heritage. A little problem is the fate of what is stored on PCs, netbooks, smartphones and USB pen our own: this, in the absence of express and specific provision, which will become our heirs to dispose of everything that is stored in them, similar to what happened in the past with photo albums of our grandparents and the boxes with letters from our parents.

More complex is the lot of mail stored on the server of our provider, as our pages on social networks, in principle, it can be said that the heirs take over all legal relations of the deceased. But things are not that simple and that not for reasons of privacy (when we die we can not invoke any confidentiality), but for two reasons.
First, most of these services is provided by foreign entities, they may ask complicated questions (which can cause us to lose time and money) in relation to applicable law and procedures, and secondly, we must be careful to include the clauses individual contractual agreements that we signed with the suppliers of our services 2.0.

Facebook, for example, allows heirs who request the opportunity to keep the page of the deceased, transforming it into a sort of "virtual mausoleum" and without the possibility of status updates (the famous "what you're thinking").
Regarding the email, however, if we have an email address "@ gmail" showing our loved ones could approach our death certificate and proof that he entertained us electronic mail (you read that right: if you have not written at least an email, can not have any data). Hotmail, however, leave the heirs access to e-mail requesting only the death certificate, but be careful to make haste: accounts are disabled after several months of inactivity. Instead Yahoo! - by contract - exclude the possibility that the heirs have online access to our account, at most, it will ask for evidence, may receive a CD containing our correspondence electronically.

If we want to avoid risks and problems, but we have no intention of making a will, we can use one of the many online services ( Legacy Locker , If I Die , Death Switch ) where, as if it were a safe, leave the password in so that, at the time of death, should be notified by mail to people that we seek.
One caution: make sure you write the right address, a single mistake could lose forever all our digital life or end it in the hands (or rather, in the mail) wrong.