  The digital footprints of today's internet-active individuals are a testament
to their lives, and have the potential to become digital legacies once they
pass on. Future descendants of those alive today will greatly appreciate the
unprecedented insight into the lives of their long since deceased ancestors,
but this can only occur if today we have a process for data preservation and
handover after death. Many prominent online platforms offer nebulous or
altogether absent policies regarding posthumous data handling, and despite
recent advances it is currently unclear who the average Australian would like
their data to be managed after their death (i.e., social media platforms, a
trusted individual, or another digital executor). While at present the
management of deceased accounts is largely performed by the platform (e.g.,
Facebook), it is conceivable that many Australians may not trust such platforms
to do so with integrity. This study aims to further the academic conversation
around posthumous data by delving deeper into the preferences of the Australian
Public regarding the management of their data after death, ultimately to inform
future development of research programs and industry solutions. A survey of
1020 Australians revealed that most desired a level of control over how their
data is managed after death. Australians currently prefer to entrust the
management of their data to a trusted close individual or third party software
that they can administrate themselves. As expected, social media companies
ranked low regarding both trust and convenience to manage data after death.
Future research focus should be to conceptualise and develop a third-party
solution that enables these preferences to be realised. Such a solution could
interface with the major online vendors (social media, cloud hosting etc.) to
action the deceased's will.
