Technical & Software Blog – ssims.co.uk

Although this may be somewhat morbid subject matter, it is an important issue relating to todays socially networked and internet centric culture in highly developed countries.

To begin with you might think that the fact that your online presence is likely to outlive you is a somewhat comforting one – after all most people would like to think they would leave behind some form of legacy when they die. And of course people can pay their respects by emailing relatives from anywhere in the world, creating tribute web pages and leaving facebook messages etc. However it is worth considering that for some people an enduring reminder of a loved one’s death may not in fact be very comforting, particularly if they died in tragic circumstances. I recently read an article about two obviously very bright but also terribly troubled researchers in the field of Artificial Intelligence. Both sadly commited suicide around a similar time a few years ago, although neither of the events were linked or seemingly related. Both these bright young people most likely believed strongly in the great ability of the internet to allow ones achievements to live on. But you have to wonder whether, for the families and friends that were affected, certain reminders of such tragic events are quite painful to have to deal with.

Not only can other people leave both positive and negative comments about a person online, social networking sites like facebook that are not under the full control of the family or friends present issues like dealing with the removal of personal information, and stopping unsensitive things happening such as ‘suggestion’ type services which ask one to interact in some way with a person who is no longer alive.

As life with a heavy online presence becomes increasingly normalised, the superficial advantages on the surface give way to expose some much more serious issues which we deal with on a fairly regular basis in real life but which are uncharted territory on the internet.

This all links in with the privacy debate surrounding the internet as a whole which I feel is set to become one of the huge legal and political issues relating to the computing and technology industry, and I can only hope that such issues are not ignored by software giants, policy makers and politicians and the public at large in favour of the reward offered by advancing the online world.