Of digital estates and a virtual afterlife

Author William Gibson saw it coming some 20 years ago: immortality inside the Internet.  See, e.g.,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Neuromancer_(Book).jpg

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CountZero(1stEd).jpg

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MonaLisaOverdrive(1stEd).jpg

Now the law is catching up with Gibson's imagination.  Now at least two states ---- Nebraska and Oklahoma, believe it or not --- Are considering legislation to make Facebook accounts a part of the deceaseds' digital estates.


http://legalblogwatch.typepad.com/legal_blog_watch/2012/03/almost-two-years-ago-i-wrote-here-about-the-concept-of-the-digital-afterlife-and-what-people-who-devotetime-energy-and-mone.html

http://www.cnbc.com//id/46750736

As people post more and more intellectual property on their Facebook accounts, there could be gold in them there hills.

Beyond the potential bucks, there is the issue of leaving a digital legacy.

http://usefularts.us/2010/06/16/digital-afterlife-death-social-media/

Perhaps it's only a matter of time --- perhaps not even a whole lot of time --- before our avatars are able to go on living log after our flesh-and-blood personas are moldering in the their graves.

If I can leave my estate to my pet --- http://www.hg.org/article.asp?id=18130 --- why not allow me to look after my avatar after I'm gone?
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/magazine/09Immortality-t.html?pagewanted=all