What Happens to Our Digital Footprints When We Die? w/ Tamara Kneese
Sep 26, 2024
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Tamara Kneese, a researcher and author of 'Death Glitch: How Techno-Solutionism Fails Us in This Life and Beyond,' delves into the complex topic of digital footprints after death. She discusses ethical dilemmas surrounding online identities and the use of AI to replicate deceased individuals. The conversation highlights digital memorialization, the evolving landscape of grief during the COVID era, and the emotional challenges families face managing online profiles. Kneese critiques the pursuit of digital immortality and emphasizes the need for responsible data management.
The podcast highlights the complexities of managing digital footprints and the emotional burden it places on grieving families after one’s death.
It discusses the ethical dilemmas surrounding AI representations of deceased individuals, emphasizing the need for consent and thoughtful interaction with digital avatars.
The episode critiques tech companies' profit-driven approaches to digital legacies, advocating for stronger regulations to protect personal information post-mortem.
Deep dives
The Intersection of Technology and Death
The conversation addresses the often-overlooked relationship between technology and death, particularly how digital platforms handle the online lives of deceased users. It highlights the complexities involved in managing digital footprints, as users leave behind a legacy online that often needs care and attention after they pass away. This includes the challenges friends and family face when navigating the digital remains of their loved ones, which complicates the grieving process. The discussion invites listeners to reflect on the cultural significance of how we memorialize individuals in digital spaces and the responsibilities that come with those digital artifacts.
Managing Digital Legacies
The difficulties of managing a deceased person's digital legacy are explored, emphasizing the lack of clear protocols that platforms enforce upon users' deaths. Many individuals leave numerous online accounts that family members may not even know exist, complicating the grieving process and legacy management. The episode discusses how platforms like Facebook may hold onto profiles to maintain engagement, raising questions about consent and the emotional toll on family and friends. Digital housekeeping becomes an overwhelming task when many users do not plan for their digital afterlife, further stressing the importance of having designated guardians for digital assets.
The Role of AI in Digital Afterlives
The topic of generative AI arises as it pertains to creating digital versions of deceased individuals, bringing forth ethical questions about identity, consent, and interaction with these virtual avatars. Platforms are exploring ways to train AI chatbots based on users' digital footprints, which raises concerns for the bereaved about how they should engage with these creations. This leads to discussions about how much autonomy the deceased should have over their digital legacy, which can sometimes impose burdens on the living. It encourages listeners to consider whether continuing to interact with an AI version of a loved one is beneficial or if it complicates the process of mourning.
Preservation vs. Over-Archiving
The discussion includes the dichotomy of preserving internet history versus the practicalities and implications of over-archiving everything online. As technology evolves, the challenges around what should be retained and the limitations of cloud storage are raised, emphasizing how not all digital memories hold lasting significance. Addressing the importance of context in preservation, the episode contemplates the nature of legacy and whether maintaining every digital record aligns with individuals' wishes. The conversation suggests that future preservation efforts should focus on meaningful narratives rather than creating a complete digital archive.
Corporate Control Over Digital Legacy
The episode critiques the influence of tech companies on how digital legacies are managed, highlighting the need for stronger regulations to protect individuals' online profiles and their digital information. It discusses how tech platforms, driven by profit motives, often commodify the legacies of their users without adequate policies to support their families after they die. The conversation advocates for a collective approach to data preservation that considers environmental impacts and the socio-economic dynamics inherent in digital infrastructures. Listeners are prompted to think critically about who should govern our digital remains, especially in a landscape where corporate interests often overshadow personal narratives.
Paris Marx is joined by Tamara Kneese to discuss the difficult question of what happens to our digital presence after we die and why some tech billionaires are so desperate to make themselves into chatbots.
Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.
The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.
Also mentioned in this episode:
Tamara wrote some pieces on AI and death for Wired and The Baffler.
